Curated original poetry
Choose a poem appropriate to the setting and avoid treating loss as spectacle. Remembrance should remain specific, restrained, and human.
These pieces are shown in full so you can read the collection before choosing one to save, print, hear aloud, or share.
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14 poems
by The Quiet Voice · 11 lines
Two minutes is long enough for a kettle to begin, a traffic light to change,
Read, listen and shareby The Quiet Voice · 11 lines
After the parade, flags return to cupboards, chairs fold into trucks,
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 12 lines
Before sunrise, the barn light came on because he did. Cattle shifted in the dark.
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 9 lines
Mud dried on the boots in maps of the north field. One lace had been knotted twice.
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 10 lines
He knew each field by the way rain stood in it, which gate sagged,
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 10 lines
His hat remains on the peg, rain-dark at the brim, a pale line where the sun
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 10 lines
He read weather in swallows, in the ache of one knee, in cattle turning backs to rain.
Read, listen and shareby The Quiet Voice · 9 lines
A child pins a paper poppy slightly crooked on her coat. She knows the word remember
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 11 lines
After the guns, the field made no speech. It lifted poppies
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 11 lines
The horse turns once at the familiar whistle, then lowers its head.
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 10 lines
He walked the fence at evening, not because the wire had changed, but because wind, cattle,
Read, listen and shareby The Quiet Voice · 11 lines
The letter was folded four times, soft at every crease. It mentioned weather,
Read, listen and shareby The Wild Voice · 11 lines
The gate he built still drags one corner through the dust. Lift, then push,
Read, listen and shareby The Quiet Voice · 12 lines
The uniform hangs behind winter coats, creased into discipline,
Read, listen and shareReader guide
Choose a poem appropriate to the setting and avoid treating loss as spectacle. Remembrance should remain specific, restrained, and human.
A poem can look right on a screen and feel wrong in the mouth. Read your shortlist aloud, notice where the voice catches, and choose the piece that sounds like something you could honestly give or say.
Use the original byline and link when sharing. For a public service, program, classroom, or publication, check the usage note and preserve the poem's line breaks.
Start with the intended use, then narrow by tone and length. A private message can be intimate; a public reading usually needs a clear opening, steady pace, and images listeners can understand immediately.
You may share an EveryPoem link or use the built-in personal print and share-card tools. Republishing the full text elsewhere or using it commercially requires permission.
Yes. Published pieces are original EveryPoem editorial works or approved contributor submissions. House-voice profiles explain how collaborative editorial bylines work.