Where To Find Free Poetry Online
As everyone knows, April is National Poetry Month! A lot of poetry challenges are going on, like writing a poem a day and finding the best poem to carry around in a pocket (for Poem In Your Pocket Day; this year it’s April 30). Buying all the poetry books is also a big way to celebrate. When your book budget busts, you can visit these websites to find free poetry online.
Poets.org
The Academy of American Poets was founded in 1934 with a mission to support and advocate for poets financially and artistically. Poets.org is a database of thousands of poems and poets that includes multi-media resources for everyday poetry lovers as well as educators. It also houses a calendar to find poetry events and offers a Poem-A-Day that can be delivered straight to your email inbox every morning.
PoetryFoundation.org
The Poetry Foundation strives to heighten poetry awareness and prestige in society. They publish Poetry, a magazine that has been around for over 100 years. The site also offers thousands of poems and poets along with podcast conversations and other multimedia poetry endeavors.
Poems.com
For another daily poetry fix in your email inbox, you can sign up with Poetry Daily. The site’s homepage features their poem of the day. Additional poems reside in their archives. They’ve also got poetry news and features like their “What Sparks Poetry” series, conversations with poets about particular poem inspirations.
SlowdownShow.org
Tracy K. Smith is one of my favorite poets. If you haven’t read her work, Duende, Life On Mars, and Wade In The Water are a good place to start. Then you can listen to and read her recommendations on The Slowdown. It’s a daily 5-minute podcast in which she (and sometimes Jenny Xie, writer of Eye Level) talks about a poem and then read it. The website has all the archives, and their Twitter and Instagram feeds offer pictures and the text of the poem, too. Yet again, you can also get it delivered in your email inbox.
ButtonPoetry.com
Button Poetry is a publisher and poetry company that promotes slam performances. They are all over social media with fun swag and lots of books to buy. If you want free, check out the Best of Button blog and watch their video archive.
LittleInfinite.com
Little Infinite Poetry defines themselves as Poetry For Life. They’ve got poetry that’s textual, visual, and audio. They’ve got resources for performing, reading, and writing. They also host a slew of contests throughout the year and post poetry snippets often on their social media sites.
FamousPoetsAndPoems.com
Famous Poets and Poems is exactly what it’s called. Here’s an online archive of famous poets and their poems. Additionally, they list a poet of the month, a poem of the month, and a whole page devoted to famous love poems.
TheOtherPages.org/poems
Poets Corner was established online in 1994. It’s got an old-timey internet vibe, which is kind of nostalgia-inducing. In addition to their author index, you can also search their site by subject, title, first line, and chronological index. Basically, they’ve got you covered for whatever you’re looking for.
Luminarium.org
If you’re into super-old-school English poetry, like from Medieval Times to the Cavalier poets, then go to Luminarium. It’s not only poetry, but there’s a lot of poetry here, all free, all for you, all in this one niche place.
For more about poetry on Book Riot, check our archives here.
Have a Happy Poetry Month!
