Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.
Filter results
801 results
Poem
The Calling of the Apostle Matthew - James Lasdun
Not the abrupt way, frozen In the one glance of a painter’s frame, Christ in the doorway pointing, Matthew’s face Bright with perplexity, the glaze Of a lifetime at the countinghouse Cracked in the split second’s bolt of being chosen,…
Poem
(Mallarme) It’s a sad creature I’m afraid the body all the classics – every book that stands steady I on my shelves I’ve read them through but only to make this wish – oh to walk to the edge…
Poem
To Andrew, Before One - Alasdair Gray
He holds a spoon, certain of what he holds: nothing more solid-certain than his spoon: fat clenching fist and hard thing clenched, the same: no separation between noun and noun. He waves the spoon, certain of what he waves: lost…
Poet
Amy Clampitt
B. 1920 D. 1994
Amy Clampitt was born in Iowa in 1920 and grew up on the 300-acre farm owned by her Quaker grandparents in New Providence. She spent much of her childhood exploring the countryside which, coupled with the pleasures of naming and…
Poet
Luke Wright
B. 1982
Luke Wright (b. 1982) was spurred into poetry when he first saw John Cooper Clarke perform at the Colchester Arts Centre in 1998, which, he said, ‘changed everything’. Since then Wright has become one of the most celebrated live poets…
Poetry Archive Now
by Ramona Herdman
They say you can stand anything for a minute. That’s how professionals do it. The trick is to only believe in the minute. Hood your eyes. Chin down. Focus on where your feet are, where your heart is this minute….
Poem
Prayer Before Birth – for BBC 100 Years - Louis MacNeice
I am not yet born; O hear me. Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the club-footed ghoul come near me. I am not yet born; console me. I fear that the human race may…
Poem
Prayer Before Birth - Louis MacNeice
I am not yet born; O hear me. Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the club-footed ghoul come near me. I am not yet born; console me. I fear that the human race may…
Poem
The verb has a long history of violence to take is to grab, seize or capture, esp. by force; note its hard ‘k’ set against the long vowel, a sign of intent, this cave of sound. He took her by…
Poem
by Saheed Sunday
I learnt the word feminism when I was nine. Today, I’m ten years older and I have waited equally that long to learn the word to tell my father that crying isn’t the same thing as dying. And saying ‘no’…
Poem
Do No Harm / I Dream of Goat - Mona Arshi
I haven’t killed a single thing in months and hand on heart It’s getting tiresome. I take soft steps in my rooms, delicately I scoop the scorpion out from under its chair. Fire ants feed on the soft of my…
The Classics
In Memoriam (extracts)
Read by Andrew Motion
In Memoriam (extracts) - Alfred Tennyson - Read by Andrew Motion
II Old Yew, which graspest at the stones That name the under-lying dead, Thy fibres net the dreamless head, Thy roots are wrapt about the bones. The seasons bring the flower again, And bring the firstling to the flock; And…
Poet
Sean O’Brien
B. 1952
Sean O’Brien (b. 1952) is a central figure in the contemporary poetry world – he has won major prizes for each of his five poetry collections, including the Cholmondeley Award, the Somerset Maugham award, the E.M. Forster Award and, twice,…
Poet
Will Burns
B. 1980
Will Burns is a poet and novelist. He first came to prominence in 2014 as a Faber New Poet and has since authored poetry collections ‘Country Music’ (Offord Road Books, 2020) which won the 2021 Laurel Prize for best first collection, & ‘Germ Songs’ (Rough Trade Books, 2019). He released the album Chalk Hill Blue in 2019, a collaboration with composer Hannah Peel whose music was set to his poems. (Hannah Peel, 2019.) His debut novel, The Paper Lantern (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2021) saw Burns named among The Observer’s Top 10 Debut Novelists of 2021. He is Poet-In-Residence at Caught By The River.
Poem
It was an adventure much could be made of: a walk On the shores of the darkest known river, Among the hooded, shoving crowds, by steaming rocks And rows of ruined huts half buried in the muck; Then to the…
Poet
Michael Longley
B. 1939 D. 2025
Michael Longley (b.1939, Belfast) is a central figure in contemporary Irish poetry. A forceful figure within the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, where he founded the literary programme, he was one of the 200 distinguished artists who are members of…
Poet
WS Merwin
B. 1927 D. 2019
In 2009, WS Merwin won the Pulizer Prize for poetry for the second time, with The Shadow of Sirius. In an interview soon afterward, Merwin recalls his earliest observations about poetry: “The idea of writing to me was from the…
Poet
Kay Ryan
B. 1945
Kay Ryan has been compared to Emily Dickinson and Marianne Moore, sharing a delight in the quirks of logic and language. Because she keeps a low profile, she has been called an ‘outsider’ poet, a term she dismisses. “I think…