A new anthology highlights the charms and drawbacks of very brief verse. By Elisa Gabbert I remember where I was when I first read two short poems. One, Margaret Atwood’s “You Fit Into Me” (“you fit ...

“Twenty Little Poems That Could Save America.” There are many assumptions, questions and provocations in the title of an essay in Harper’s Magazine by poet Tony Hoagland, who clearly has a thing for ...

As parents, we can sometimes be too hard on our kids when they fail, especially in sports. How do you handle it when your kid strikes out or drops a touchdown pass? There is a national campaign ...

WATFORD CITY, N.D. — Ten years ago, I wrote a little poem that asked a young girl to show us around her home on the ranch. I had just moved back to my family’s ranch in western North Dakota and was ...

What is it about life’s big and little moments that calls for a poem? At weddings. At funerals. On greeting cards. In church. On the radio. At moments of great happiness or deep sadness. At beginnings ...

“There was a man who loved a rat. He fed it ham till it got fat. He kept it in his bed at night, and rather hoped This odd little verse and 13 others like it make up “There Was a Man Who Loved a Rat ...