Audio and Video Resources: links to audio and video interviews or readings of poems

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Want to Read some Poems?  Recommended Poetry Books for Teens

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Books in Verse:

Using Poems to Tell A Story

Web Sites

Poetry Magic:  A resource centre for the theory and craft of writing poetry

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Poetry Pages From The Atlantic Monthly
Articles, interviews and poems are presented by one of America's greatest literary magazines, The Atlantic Monthly. Included are many modern and historic poems and poets.

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Poets & Writers
A place for poets to find out about the market for their poems. Includes addresses of poets and discussions about poetry.

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April Is National Poetry Month

To request one of these titles through interlibrary loan,

email us the author & title.

Be sure to include your full name as well

A Jetblack Sunrise: Poems about War and Conflict by Jan Mark

Thought-provoking and poignant, this collection of poems reflects the timeless nature of courage and barbarity in war. Poems by Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, and W.B. Yeats are joined with the work of current writers, like Margaret Atwood, and complement contributions from more ancient sources, such as Shakespeare and the Bible. A timely collection, full of raw emotion, that paints a vivid picture of war.

The Body Eclectic: An Anthology of Poems by Patrice Vecchione

The first poetry anthology for teens to address one of their foremost concerns-the body.Experienced anthologist and teacher Patrice Vecchione has put together an immensely powerful group of poems, all of which address a unifying theme of major interest to teens-the body. Drawing on poems both serious and silly and poets from Shakespeare to Lucille Clifton, The Body Eclectic looks at what our bodies are, what they are not, how we love them and taunt them, what they give us, and what they take away. A wonderful collection of poems on a hot topic for teens, and a perfect gift and companion in one of the most universal struggles of adolescence.

I Just Hope It's Lethal: Poems of Sadness, Madness, and Joy by Liz Rosenberg (Editor), Deena November (Editor)

The teenage years are a time filled with sadness, madness, joy, and all the messy stuff in between. Sometimes it feels that every day brings a new struggle, a new concern, a new reason to stay in bed with the shades drawn. But between moments of despair and confusion often come times of great clarity and insight, when you might think, like the poet Rumi, "Whoever's calm and sensible is insane!" It is moments like these that have inspired the touching, honest, and gripping poems found in I Just Hope It's Lethal: Poems of Sadness, Madness, and Joy. After all, what's normal anyway? This collection includes poems by Charles Bukowski, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, T. S. Eliot, Edgar Allen Poe, W. B. Yeats, Dorothy Parker, Jane Kenyon, and many more, including teenage writers and up-and-coming poets.

Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps by Bill Aguado

Paint Me Like I Am is a collection of poems by teens who have taken part in writing programs run by a national nonprofit organization called WritersCorps. To read the words of these young people is to hear the diverse voices of teenagers everywhere.

Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States by Lori Marie Carlson

A stunning variety of Latino poets; established and familiar names are joined by many new young voices, and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos has written the Introduction. The poets collected here illuminate the difficulty of straddling cultures, languages, and identities. They celebrate food, family, love, and triumph. In English, Spanish, and poetic jumbles of both, they tell us who they are, where they are, and what their hopes are for the future.

Teen Sunshine Reflections: Words for the Heart and Soul by June Cotner
Believing that wisdom is found in many faiths, and that young adults are often looking for fresh ways to connect with God, best-selling anthologist June Cotner has worked closely with teen reviewers to fill these pages with over 150 thoughts, poems, and prayers that will help you through the tough times, encourage you through challenges, and inspire you to achieve your goals. New teen writers, including Nadia Kourehdar, and such revered spiritual leaders as Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama have important words to share about friends, family, emotions, spirituality, love, and other concerns of daily life-words for the heart and soul. Teen Sunshine Reflections is about life -- friends, family, relationships, school, emotions, and spirituality. You'll find yourself returning to it again and again, because sometimes all you need is a little bit of sunshine to help you through life's journey.

Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls by Nina Nickles (Photographer), Betsy Franco (Editor)

The voices in this collection have so much to question, so much to grieve. They have so much to celebrate, so much to rage against. They’re ready to speak up and begin the conversation — with you and with the world. More than thirty uncensored poems are accompanied by Nina Nickles’s masterful photographs, which sensitively capture the moods and essence of adolescence. Here, painted in the words of teenage girls, is a portrait of their dreams and desires - a record of hope, disillusionment, anger, joy, sadness, and most of all, strength.
 

What Have You Lost? by Naomi Shihab Nye

A collection of poems that explore all kinds of loss.

Wicked Poems by Roger Mcgough

A wickedly entertaining collection. Roger McGough has delved into the depths of impiety, amassing verse by Shakespeare and Kipling, Nash and Eliot, as well as new works, some written especially for this anthology.

The World According to Dog: Poems and Teen Voices by Joyce Sidman

Funny, comforting, surprising, the words in this book explore our lives with dogs: dogs who befriend us; dogs who annoy, perplex, and accept us. Teens speak for themselves in honest and forthright essays while Joyce Sidman's insightful poems further express the bond between dog and teen: how days of crowded hallways, pointless assignments, and blinding crushes are brought to balance by our dogs. For as Doug Mindell's winning photographs confirm, at the end of the day, waiting at home, there is always Dogfull of hope and companionship.
 

You Hear Me?: Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys by Nina Nickles (Photographer), Betsy Franco (Editor)

In a powerful collection of more than seventy uncensored poems and essays, more than fifty teenage boys from across the country explore their many-layered concerns: identity, love, envy, gratitude, sex, anger, competition, fear, hope. Here, unadorned and without the filter of adult sensibility, is the raw stuff of their lives, in their own words. Isn’t it time to listen?

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

Meet Jack, who tells his story with a little help from some paper, a pencil, his teacher, and a dog named Sky.

A Writing Kind Of Day: Poems for Young Poets by Ralph Fletcher

A young writer's daily experiences and concerns are folded into poems to which many readers can relate. For example, in "Bad Weather," the narrator presents a forecast for the school week, predicting "...a big term paper/due to arrive on Monday morning," followed by "intense…grammar drills" on Tuesday, the arrival of "the state writing test" on Wednesday,"…a high probability/of five-paragraph essays" on Thursday, and, finally, on Friday, "…some relief/when scattered poetry blows in." Varied in mood and tone, the offerings entertain as they celebrate words and language. A grandmother's "Memory Loss" is compared to crossing a river, as "She steps from word to word/until suddenly/she stops in the middle, disoriented." "Poetry" is described as a "sugar-crazed teenager/who just got a license/but refuses to follow/the rules of the road./…It embarrasses everyone/by telling the truth." What emerges is a picture of a young writer at work, looking closely at the world, making connections, and seeing the depth and beauty of everyday events and people.

LitLinks: Poetry

Find links to a variety of sites listed by the poet's name.  For example, if you are using a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, click on the link for her name and you'll find a list of links about her and her poetry.

Norton Websource to American Literature

A list of American authors by name; click on your poet's name to find their place on the literary timeline and to get biographical info and links

Modern American Poetry

Resources on Modern American Poets; an online and multimedia companion to the book Anthology of Modern American Poetry.

The Internet Public Library: Literary Criticism

A huge number of links to lit crit resources on the web.  You can look them up by the author's name or the title of the work.  This site isn't just for poetry, but for all kinds of literature.