In night when colors all to black are cast,
Distinction lost, or gone down with the light;
The eye a watch to inward senses placed,
Not seeing, yet still having powers of sight,
Gives vain alarums to the inward sense,
Where fear stirred up with witty tyranny,
Confounds all powers, and thorough self-offense,
Doth forge and raise impossibility:
Such as in thick depriving [...]

The Hag is astride,
This night for to ride;
The Devill and shee together:
Through thick, and through thin,
Now out, and then in,
Though ne’r so foule be the weather.
A Thorn or a Burr
She takes [...]

The warder looks down at the mid hour of night,
On the tombs that lie scatter’d below:
The moon fills the place with her silvery light,
And the churchyard like day seems to glow.
When see! first one grave, then another opes wide,
And women and men stepping forth are descried,
In cerements snow-white and trailing.
In haste for the sport soon [...]

Der Türmer, der schaut zu Mitten der Nacht
Hinab auf die Gräber in Lage;
Der Mond, der hat alles ins Helle gebracht;
Der Kirchhof, er liegt wie am Tage.
Da regt sich ein Grab und ein anderes dann:
Sie kommen hervor, ein Weib da, ein Mann,
In weißen und schleppenden Hemden.
Das reckt nun, es will sich ergetzen sogleich,
Die Knöchel zur Runde, [...]

Born: April 4, 1928 as Marguerite Ann Johnson
Nationality: United States
Magnum Opus: Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die (1971)
Influences: Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Edger Allan Poe, James Weldon Johnson, Frances Harper, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Anne Spencer, and Jessie Faucet
How she started: At a young age, Miss Johnson was a dancer. She [...]

Why is it that the nastiest poets write the best poetry? I noticed this first while reading through biographies of many top classical poets: Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Lewis Carroll, and William Wordsworth to name a few.

The grossness ranges from orgies to pedophilia to incest. Obviously, not all poets indulge themselves in the life [...]

Image by Paul Worthington
With this pen I thee write
with notes and words which are never right
this paper lasts a hundred years
my heart pumps a thousand tears
when dusk has come and I am gone
I wish for you another dawn

Roses are red refers to a class of doggerel poems (meaning, poems that have little literary value). The poem is:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet;
And so are you

The origins of the poem is unknown, however it may be traced back to the epic The Faerie Queene (Book Three, Canto 6, Stanza 6) by Sir [...]

Love poems are one of the most searched for poetry themes on PoemofQuotes. Although the results are skewed due to Google searches and placement, these are the top 10 most viewed love poems written by me, long ago and read on PofQ.

Wanting You
Our Moment
Feeling
Everlasting Love
One Kiss
Without You
The Day We Met
Thinking About You
You’re the One
Why I [...]

Poetry has a long history. Before literacy, stories were told in poetic form for easy memorization and oral transmission. By doing so, poetry has been able to pass along tall-tales and histories journeys.
There are many great poetic works, but here is a list of the top 10 must read poetry collections that have had an [...]