Favorite Poems

Most Beautiful: It's Raining In Love- Richard Brautigan

I don't know what it is,
but I distrust myself
when I start to like a girl
a lot.
It makes me nervous.
I don't say the right things
or perhaps I start
to examine, evaluate, compute what I am saying.
If I say, "Do you think it's going to rain?"
and she says, "I don't know,"
I start thinking : Does she really like me?
In other words
I get a little creepy.
A friend of mine once said,
"It's twenty times better to be friends
with someone
than it is to be in love with them."
I think he's right and besides,
it's raining somewhere, programming flowers
and keeping snails happy.
That's all taken care of.
BUT
if a girl likes me a lot
and starts getting real nervous
and suddenly begins asking me funny questions
and looks sad if I give the wrong answers
and she says things like,
"Do you think it's going to rain?"
and I say, "It beats me,"
and she says, "Oh,"
and looks a little sad
at the clear blue California sky,
I think : Thank God, it's you, baby, this time
instead of me.

• Why: If I didn't know any better, this man knew me. This poem is who I am. And when I read it, I see that I'm human, and makes me see that I'm not crazy. That makes life good, and I can view it peacefully. 
• What do I feel: I feel like a regular human when I read it.
• Favorite Line: I think : Thank God, it's you, baby, this time
  instead of me.

Most Shocking: Blood- Raymond Carver

• Why: Raymond Carver watches a man die before his eyes... and he does nothing about it.
• What I feel: I felt worried. Disturbed. A mix of bad emotions.
• Favorite Line: So I walked away

Most Emotive: Black Angel- Jim Simmerman

• Why: It's a man fighting with the darkness inside. Kinda makes me wonder when I will... and it makes me worry.
• What I feel: I feel cold on the inside. Almost lifeless. It makes me want to dig inside myself, and fight whatever is inside me.
• Favorite Line: Each night I wrestle my own black angel, who comes upon me like a sudden mirror. So that I can feel the black wings wrenching my shoulders

Thought Provoking: An Old Man- Robert Pinsky

• Why: Makes me wonder if I've squandered my life away... If I'll live up to the dreams, and it makes me think that maybe I should pursue these things.
• What I feel: That I'm wasting my life...
• Favorite Line: With phrases: Tomorrow. There's plenty of time. Someday 

Humorous: The Party- Raymond Carver

• Why: It has this bit of ironic humor to it. The kind where you don't expect a man to act like that. 
• What I feel: That if I write poems to my loved ones about parties, they won't get mad at me.
• Favorite Line:

Inspiring: Sonic Boom- John Updike

I’m sitting in the living room,

When, up above, the Thump of Doom

Resounds. Relax. It’s sonic boom.

The ceiling shudders at the clap,

The mirrors tilt, the rafters snap,

And Baby wakens from his nap.

“Hush, babe. Some pilot we equip,

Giving the speed of sound the slip,

Has cracked the air like a penny whip.”

Our world is far from frightening; I

No longer strain to read the sky

Where moving fingers (jet planes) fly.

Our world seems much too tame to die.

And if it does, with one more pop,

I shan’t look up to see it drop.

• Why: It gives me faith in people in this world, that we understand that there is an end, and we know what to do.
• What I felt: That this man is smart, and knows when his end will be. 
• Favorite line: Our world seems much too tame to die. 

Interesting: Lullaby- Robert Hillyer

The long canoe
Toward the shadowy shore,
One...two..
Three...four...
The paddle dips,
Turns in the wake,
Pauses, then
Forward again,
Water drips
From the blade to the lake.
Nothing but that,
No sound of wings;
The owl and bat
Are velvet things.
No wind awakes,
No fishes leap,
No rabbits creep
Among the brakes.

The long canoe
At the shadowy shore,
One...two...
Three...four...
A murmur now
Under the prow
Where rushes bow
To let us through.
One...two...
Upon the shore,
Three...four...
Upon the lake,
No one's awake,
No one's awake,
One...
Two...
No one,
Not even
You.

• Why: The end of the poem was very unexpected. 
• What I felt: Relaxed... and then like that maybe I'M asleep... 
• Favorite line: No one, not even you.

Musical: Bones by Walter de la Mare

Said Mr. Smith, “I really cannot
Tell you, Dr. Jones—
The most peculiar pain I’m in—
I think it’s in my bones.”

Said Dr. Jones, “Oh, Mr. Smith,
That’s nothing. Without doubt
We have a simple cure for that;
It is to take them out.”

He laid forthwith poor Mr. Smith
Close-clamped upon the table,
And, cold as stone, took out his bones
As fast as he was able.

Smith said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,”
And wished him a good-day;
And with his parcel ‘neath his arm
He slowly moved away.

• Why: It has this very smooth flow to it.
• What I felt: That this is the silliest poem I've ever read in my life.
• Favorite Line: This is one where you can't have a favorite, because it all connects. So I really enjoy it all. 

Stylistically: Orphan Tears- Ray Johnson 

Little children, near and far
Don't know where your parents are.
Cry directly in this jar.
I will drink it at the bar.
Sip sippin' on Orphan Tears.
Sip sip sippin' on Orphan Tears.
Sip sippin' on Orphan Tears.
Sip sip sippin' on Orphan Tears.

• Why: Very jumpy, and a strange rhyme scheme 
• What I felt: Worried that people drink the tears of orphans
• Favorite Line: Sip sip sippin' on Orphan Tears