A LIVING ARCHIVE OF POEMS
Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry
Read A Little Poetry began as a personal commonplace book in 2005. Today, it has become a living archive and beloved home for poetry lovers, readers, educators, and seekers of language that holds us. Join us in celebrating two decades of gathering poems that have carried us through. Thank you for being part of this journey.
Flowers by Cynthia Zarin
Flowers
Cynthia ZarinThis morning I was walking upstairs
from the kitchen, carrying your
beautiful flowers, the flowers youbrought me last night, calla lilies
and something else, I am not
sure what to call them, white flowers,of course you had no way of knowing
it has been years since I bought
white flowers—but now you haveand here they are again. I was carrying
your flowers and a coffee cup
and a soft yellow handbag and a bookof poems by a Chinese poet, in
which I had just read the words “come
or go but don’t just stand therein the doorway,” as usual I was
carrying too many things, you
would have laughed if you saw me.It seemed especially important
not to spill the coffee as I usually
do, as I turned up the stairs,inside the whorl of the house as if
I were walking up inside the lilies.
I do not know how to hold allthe beauty and sorrow of my life.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Orbit by Cynthia Zarin, published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2017. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“With Orbit, prize-winning author Cynthia Zarin confirms her place as an indispensable American poet of our time.
In this, her fifth collection, Zarin turns her lyric lens on the worlds within worlds we inhabit and how we navigate our shared predicament—the tables of our lives on which the news of the day is strewn: the president speaking to parishioners in Charleston, the ricochet of violence, near and far. Whether writing about hairpin turns in the stair of childhood, about the cat’s claw of anxiety, on the impending loss of a young friend, or how “love endures, give or take,” here is the poet who, in the title poem, “bartered forty summers for black pearls” and whose work is full of such wagers, embodied in playing cards, treble notes, snow globes, and balancing acts. Zarin reminds us that the atmosphere created by our experiences shapes and defines the orbit we move through. Along the way, she is both witness and, often indirectly, subject—“I do not know how to hold the beauty and sorrow of my life,” she writes. This book is an attempt at an answer.” (Source)
ABOUT CYNTHIA ZARIN
Cynthia Zarin is a poet, journalist, and children’s book author. She earned a BA at Harvard and an MFA Columbia University, and has taught at Yale. Her books of poetry include The Swordfish Tooth (1989), Fire Lyric (1993), The Watercourse (2002), which won the Los Angeles Book Award, and The Ada Poems (2010), a series of poems based on Vladimir Nabokov’s classic novel Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle. Using “Ada” as the speaker for the poems, Zarin riffs on impossible… (more)
Read more poems by Cynthia Zarin • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: sorrow • beauty • love • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
ON THIS DAY
EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE
Poems for the moment & for always
Over the years, this space has grown into an ever-expanding archive of words that comfort, challenge, and inspire. Whether you are seeking solace, rediscovering an old favorite, or finding new voices to love, start here.
THE JOURNEY
A Love Letter to Our Readers
I started Read A Little Poetry when I was 19, posting poems late at night from my bedroom. I didn’t know then that I was building a home—just that I needed one. I’ve been tending to this archive quietly for twenty years, out of love, out of need, out of belief in the life-saving power of poetry. What a miracle that you’ve found your way here.
Poetry is how I mark time. This site is how I remember I’ve lived.
SELECTED BY OUR GUEST CURATORS
Poems We Carry
To mark our 20th year milestone, we invited beloved poets to share a poem they carry with them—one that changed them, stayed with them, or saved them. Their reflections are tender, surprising, luminous.
A LEGACY OF POETRY
This is Our Story
Read A Little Poetry began as an anonymous blog over two decades ago. But over time, it’s become something more—a companion to grief and joy, a resource in classrooms, a place to begin again. Below are stories from those who’ve walked with poetry, and with me, through the years.
Letters from our readers
Reflections from those who found a poem here when they needed one most
Share your
story
Have you carried a poem from this site into your life? I’d love to hear about it.
HELP US KEEP GOING
A space for
poems & for you
For twenty years, Read A Little Poetry has remained free and ad-free—a living archive built from the ground up with love, time, and care. My goal is to support independent poetry: to make space for it, to keep it visible, to let it be found.
This space exists because of you. Whether you found it during a lonely morning, a deep heartbreak, or a restless night—whether you’ve sent a poem to a friend, printed one for your class, or returned here just to feel something—your presence matters.
To everyone who has supported this archive through donations or ongoing subscriptions: thank you. You’ve helped keep the lights on.
Your generosity sustains not only this site, but the belief that poetry deserves to be findable, shared, and remembered.
Holding poets to the light
Read A Little Poetry wouldn’t be what it is today without you.
Thank you for your love of poetry and for being here.
