Decades ago, my friend Caetlin received a peculiar assignment from the poet Robert L. Hass, who was then her undergraduate literature professor. He instructed each student to memorize three poems of ...

A shape cannot have only two sides—even a slice of bread, which, when dropped, lands on the floor buttered side down ...

Joshua Clover begins with hating people and loving cats, quickly adding juxtapositions and surprises. By Joshua Clover Selected by Anne Boyer Joshua Clover’s “My Life in the New Millennium” begins ...

Maya Angelou’s legacy goes beyond the body of work she shared with the world during her lifetime. Her legacy as one of the greatest writers of all time also embodies the ability she had to hold on to ...

I recently taught a short six-class course for Homeschool Connections on “Poems Every Catholic Should Know.” The text for the course was my book of the same title, which is an anthology of Christian ...

This week’s guest on Poetry from Daily Life is Irene Latham, who lives on a lake in rural Alabama. Irene has loved poetry since childhood when her father introduced her to poems by Shel Silverstein.

American poet Emily Dickinson. A mystical recluse, she lived all her life in Amherst, Massachusetts. Emily Dickinson was a 19th-century American poet whose name has become synonymous with classic ...

One of my strongest poetry memories took place at a black-tie dinner at the Library of Congress where George W. Bush introduced his wife Laura with a poem. He explained that she had been away on a ...

Ellen Burstyn is always ready for the next adventure. The Oscar winner tells USA TODAY about parenting, Hollywood and the ...