Ten Poems That Inspire Me

As I continue to celebrate National Poetry Month, I’m sharing my ten favorite poems and why they speak to me. I’m also including the one poem I have disliked since I was a little girl (yes, it affected me that much!).

What Do Women Want? By Kim Addonizio. Celebrates the joys of being a woman and that little red dress that can rally our spirits.

Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise By Maya Angelou. These extraordinary poems rejoice in the magnificence of being a woman and the strength of overcoming adversity with brilliance and grace.

Dead Is Dead by Alan Balter. Ruminating on the topic no one wants to think about, this poem is laugh-out-loud funny.

Love and Friendship by Emily Brontë. I love its simplicity and comparisons of love and friendship to nature.

How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It’s about love, always a wonderful topic and the first poem I was exposed to in school.

There Is Another Sky by Emily Dickinson. I studied Dickinson in graduate school and this poem sums up the splendor of her work.

Twas The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore. Because it holds fond childhood memories of the unquestioning belief in Santa Claus.

Sonnet 19 by William Shakespeare. Always a fan of the Bard, I love this lush piece that centers on something none of us can stop – the passage of time and growing old.

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. As a fan of baseball, the eternal hope and crushing heartbreak of America’s pastime is relayed perfectly.

There is, however, one poem that I absolutely hate. As the only girl in a family of four boys, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s – There Was a Little Girl was recited by my parents whenever I misbehaved! Still scared by that one.