Poems About Poetry

What better way to celebrate National Poetry Month than with a bouquet of poems about poetry itself? Do you have a favorite poem about poems that’s not on this list? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page. “Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.” -- from “Digging” by Seamus Heaney “…unless the sun inside you is/ burning your gut,/ don’t do it.” -- from “so you want to be a writer?” by Charles Bukowski “it is not your pen you are looking for// it is your tongue and those who speak with it” -- from “If You Lose Your Pen” by Ruth Forman “Let her have time, and silence/ enough paper to make mistakes and go on.” -- from “The Poet” by Jane Hirshfield “It’s late and getting later and this poem/ wants a drink.” -- from “The Poem Wants A Drink” by Karen Glenn “…walk inside the poem’s rooms/ and feel the walls for a light switch.” -- from “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins “i beg my bones to be good/ but they keep clicking music…” -- from “the poet” by Lucille Clifton