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.
What Is This Air Changing, This Warm Aura, These Threads of Air Vibrating Rows of People by Ariel Yelen
What Is This Air Changing, This Warm Aura, These Threads of Air Vibrating Rows of People
Ariel YelenThis small effort
Because this little singing
This little sound
Small song
This fathomless effort
This voice which comes from the gut
This soft effort at making song
This effort at song
This effort to make song which birds do effortlessly
What birds do effortlessly
This tiny bird
This tender worthy effort
And sometimes it is no effort
No effort to sing
Sometimes I’ve had a drink or two
Sometimes it’s effortless to make song
If enough people sing in a group
If I’m part of that group, I cry
I am holding a thing that breathes and makes sound
Where song comes from and goes to
KEEP READING
ABOUT ARIEL YELEN
Ariel Yelen’s poetry has appeared in the American Poetry Review, BOMB, Conjunctions, Washington Square Review, and other journals. She holds an MFA from Rutgers University–Newark and serves as the associate editor for Futurepoem, where she also edits the blog future feed. She lives in Brooklyn. (Source)
Read more poems by Ariel Yelen • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: emotion • music • community • 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.
