“I taste a liquor never brewed” (214) by Emily Dickinson
"Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830 and died there on May 15, 1886. She left behind, in manuscript, nearly 1800 poems, mostly untitled lyrics and brief allegorical… Read More
“Waking Early Sunday Morning” by Robert Lowell
“Waking Early Sunday Morning” is the first section in the long poem called “Near the Ocean.”… Read More
“Waiting for the Stray” by Ernest Hilbert
"Ernest Hilbert’s Sixty Sonnets is exactly what its title suggests—and thus it’s a performance as much as a book of poems, showy and spectacular. From the brisk noir of 'She Remembers How… Read More
“The Hive” by Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott was born in London in 1953. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London, where she teaches on the MA in Creative Writing. She is… Read More
“On Realizing That I Have Never Used the Word Commerce in a Poem Until Now” by Anna Evans
Anna Evans is editor of The Raintown Review and a Contributing/Online Editor for the The Schuylkill Valley Journal. Her poems have appeared in journals including the Harvard Review, Rattle, the Atlanta Review,… Read More
“Alcove” by John Ashbery
"Ashbery’s conjuring mind is full of huge amounts of information—philology, movies, Old French, camp slang, archaeology, cartoons, the poetry of the ages, bibliography, Victoriana, television ads and more. Ashbery’s own mental inventory… Read More
“Why There is No Socialism in the United States of America” by Quincy Lehr
Quincy R. Lehr was raised in Norman, Oklahoma and presently lives in Brooklyn, having returned to the U.S. after two years in Ireland. His work has appeared in print and online venues… Read More
“Martini Shot” by Ernest Hilbert
"The Raintown Review is a perfect-bound, semi-annual journal. We have published the works of William Baer, Jared Carter, Annie Finch, Richard Moore, Daniel Hoffman, Molly Peacock, Jennifer Reeser, A.E. Stallings, X.J. Kennedy… Read More
“Repose of Rivers” by Hart Crane
"Crane's poetry has been a touchstone for me, and remains central to a fully imaginative understanding of American literature." - Harold Bloom… Read More
“City on a Hill” by Ernest Hilbert
Ernest Hilbert’s newest collection, All of You on the Good Earth (2013), continues to explore the bizarre worlds of 21st-century America first glimpsed in his debut, Sixty Sonnets, which X.J. Kennedy hailed… Read More
“Bright Star” by John Keats
When Keats died at the age of 25, he had been seriously writing poetry for barely six years, from 1814 until the summer of 1820, and publishing for four. It is believed… Read More
“Simple Instructions” by Ernest Hilbert
Hilbert has written poems of superb lyricism. It’s hard to think of another poet with such range, and indeed with such brilliant delivery. Beauty, trash, exaltation, and humor are contained in his… Read More
“The Owl” by Edward Thomas
Philip Edward Thomas (3 March 1878–9 April 1917) was an Anglo-Welsh writer of prose and poetry. He is commonly considered a war poet, although few of his poems deal directly with his… Read More
“Nights of 1998” by Ernest Hilbert in the New Issue of Praxilla
From the forthcoming collection All of You on the Good Earth (2013). … Read More
“I Look Into My Glass” by Thomas Hardy
From Wessex Poems and Other Verses, New York: Harper, 1898.… Read More
“Silver Roses” by Rachel Wetzsteon
Rachel Wetzsteon (1967-2009) is the author of three previous poetry collections, including Home & Away, The Other Stars, and Sakura Park, as well as a critical study of W. H. Auden. … Read More
“FIRE! FIRE! DROP THE GUN!”: Some Hilarious Toy Knockoffs
Product piracy is big business around the world. We see Prada bags and Cartier watches for $10 on the street corner. Imitation is everywhere. Why pay for Fruit Loops when you… Read More
“My Symbolic Suggestion” by Daniel Nester
Daniel Nester is a journalist, essayist, poet, editor, and teacher. His latest book is How to Be Inappropriate, a collection of humorous nonfiction (Soft Skull, 2010). Nester’s first two books, God Save… Read More
“I’m Goin’ Down / To Sin City!”: Stop By Bauman Rare Books in Las Vegas If You Find Yourself in Sin City
Bauman Rare Books in The Shoppes at the Palazzo. … Read More
“Fireworks” by Chelsea Rathburn
Chelsea Rathburn earned an MFA from the University of Arkansas and is a native of Miami, Florida. Her first full-length collection, The Shifting Line, won the 2005 Richard Wilbur Award and was… Read More
“Home Security” by Ernest Hilbert
From the forthcoming book All of You on the Good Earth, original appearance in Michael Schiavo's magazine The Equalizer. … Read More
“A Small Good News” by Marilyn Nelson
Marilyn Nelson's honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, and the 1990 Connecticut Arts Award. From… Read More
“Crow Hill” by Ted Hughes
In 2008 The London Times ranked Hughes fourth on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". On 22 March 2010, it was announced that Hughes would be commemorated with… Read More
“And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name” by John Ashbery
Check out Jay Parini's Top Ten American Poems. Ashbery squeaks in at number 10 with this favorite. … Read More
“Slip Sliding Away”: The Future of Continents
We all know that plate tectonics cause the world's continents to move very slowly and reshape themselves. What was once a single mega-continent, Pangea, has since broken into the seven continents we… Read More
“Pull My Finger”: Mr. Donald Hall Meets the President
I interviewed Mr. Donald Hall recently. The results will be published in the American Poetry Review this year. We also began a very fine correspondence. I'm very pleased to learn he was… Read More
E-Verse Nets 36,000 Readers in February!
We're getting there! The goal is 50,000 readers by year's end. Please share E-Verse with friends, family, and enemies. … Read More
“A night of drink, / A night of hate, / A night as dark, / As last nights [sic] date”: Sheen and Heard in the Poetry World
Some of you may recall E-Verse's top five poetry collections by celebrities. Let us not forget that Mr. Sheen, so beloved of popular news media (even as revolutions break out across the… Read More