A poem a day...

I think that one of the reasons that poetry seems to have diminished in popularity is that a lot of us know nothing about reading poetry. Most of us are taught it briefly if at all, and trying to explore it on your own is difficult, to say the least. There's just so much to choose from, and one may wonder what to read. However, the best writers are the ones who read, so I wanted to create a forum similar to the poem of the week forum, but with a little more discussion. I want people to give their ideas and opinions on the one's I put up here, because it makes reading so much more interesting. I can't promise to post a poem a day, but any poems that catch my eye will definitely end up here for discussion. If anyone has a poem they'd like put up to talk about, just PM me.

Reply to the Question: "How can You Become a Poet?"
by Eve Merriam

take the leaf of a tree
trace its exact shape
the outside edges
and inner lines

memorize the way it is fastened to the twig
(and how the twig arches from the branch)
how it springs forth in April
how it is panoplied in July

by late August
crumple it in your hand
so that you smell its end-of-summer sadness

chew its woody stem

listen to its autumn rattle

watch it as it atomizes in the November air

then in winter
when there is no leaf left


invent one