What are the 50 best poems on the web?

here’s some of my fav poems published in 2008 in online journals, not counting stuff from NOÖ (i save links to a lot of shit, so that’s why my list is so long):

mary biddinger’s “Population: 41,685” and “Downdraft” ||
http://www.memorious.org/?id=233

heather june gibbons’s “The Idea Of” ||
http://www.juked.com/2008/09/theideaof.asp

howard good’s “Lovesick” ||
http://www.juked.com/2008/07/lovesick.asp

dorothea lasky’s “I Am a Wild Band” ||
http://www.coconutpoetry.org/lasky1.htm

jon link’s “Ghosting. A Life of Calling” & “No Virginia” ||
http://www.coconutpoetry.org/link1.htm

elisa gabbert’s “Poem With Superimposition” ||
http://www.coconutpoetry.org/gabbert1.htm

claire donato’s “Address to California” ||
http://www.coconutpoetry.org/donato1.html

christopher higgs’s “On Being a Hypochondriac” ||
http://www.coconutpoetry.org/higgs1.html

eric lindley’s “And Television” ||
http://www.shampoopoetry.com/ShampooThirtyfour/lindley.html

kristin hatch’s “The Bitches” ||
http://www.shampoopoetry.com/ShampooThirtyfour/hatch.html

lesley jenike’s “Spring of a New Era” ||
http://realpoetik.blogspot.com/2008/06/lesley-jenike.html

ian davisson’s “The Lovely Boxers of Claremont Road” ||
http://www.juked.com/2008/01/claremont.asp

May 7th, 2009 / 8:13 pm Adam Robinson—

Oh, I’ve been meaning to get AWE. Okay, thanks.

I’m glad, Nathan, that you think so too. I think there are a bunch of good outlets like the Buffalo Poetics list, but they don’t come up around here.

Here’s a Chelsea Martin thing rad poem. I like all of her stuff a lot: http://noojournal.blogspot.com/2009/03/rad-poetry-3-for-colin-bassett.html

And then I also liked that Poetry for the first 100 days project that I forgot about. Here’s a cool one from Joyelle McSweeney: http://100dayspoems.blogspot.com/2009/02/day-31-joyelle-mcsweeney.html

May 7th, 2009 / 8:14 pm Mike Young—

wait are we doing just 2008 or everything?

May 7th, 2009 / 8:16 pm Catherine Lacey—

Mike Young is having an aneurysm in his brain just thinking about all the poetry on the internet from forever until now.

May 7th, 2009 / 8:18 pm Mike Young—

tru dat

May 7th, 2009 / 8:23 pm Adam Robinson—

I was thinking maybe from one year ago today until yesterday?

We could be all official though, and make a serious go at it and then sell books.

May 7th, 2009 / 8:25 pm Mike Young—

oooooh! that makes sense, i thought you meant just 2008

i think some parameter would be good, not to be official but just because there’s so much good stuff out there.. like for this we could do the fav 2008 poems and then next year do the fav 2009 poems

i think it’s a really great idea and one that nobody’s really done yet, the just poetry idea

May 7th, 2009 / 8:29 pm Nathan Tyree—

Howie Good.

Google Howie Good.

Seriously, he is the balls

Howie fuckin’ Good

May 7th, 2009 / 8:31 pm Adam Robinson—

Mike got him.

May 7th, 2009 / 8:33 pm davidpeak—

Kathryn Regina’s “I Want to Know You” from Opium.

http://www.opiummagazine.com/Index.aspx?storyid=2442

May 7th, 2009 / 8:39 pm Dan Wickett—

Just an FYI – the Best of the Web does include poetry. It contains short stories, flash fictions, poems, and essays.

Arlene Ang is probably my own personal favorite consistently seeing her work published in online journals.

May 7th, 2009 / 8:40 pm Nathan Tyree—

didn’t see that. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks he is great

May 7th, 2009 / 8:43 pm Adam Robinson—

Oh right, duh. Thanks Dan. Duh duh.

Here’s another sharpy from Josh Maday:
http://keyholemagazine.com/josh-maday/parallelogical-circuit

May 7th, 2009 / 4:51 pm davidpeak—

Daniel Spinks’s “Decision” from elimae.

http://www.elimae.com/2008/May/Decision.html

May 7th, 2009 / 8:56 pm Nathan Tyree—

forever

May 7th, 2009 / 9:01 pm davidpeak—

i think the giant is eating my comments

May 7th, 2009 / 9:03 pm Blake Butler—

I like Mark Leidner a whole ton: http://actionyes.org/issue9/leidner/leidner1.html

and Nathan Neely’s recipe: http://www.elimae.com/2009/01/Eggnog.html

more

May 7th, 2009 / 9:05 pm Ani—

From a somewhat reluctant poet, Jereme Dean:

http://pifflewag.blogspot.com/2009/03/here-is-shitty-poem-because-i-feel-bad.html

May 7th, 2009 / 9:09 pm Adam Robinson—

fixed it

May 7th, 2009 / 9:11 pm davidpeak—

thank you

May 7th, 2009 / 9:14 pm Blake Butler—

and 2 from Lara Glenum: http://www.octopusmagazine.com/issue11/glenum.htm

May 7th, 2009 / 9:20 pm Blake Butler—

ian davisson rules

May 7th, 2009 / 9:47 pm Vaughan Simons—

I do love end of year round-ups in May. They confuse me. Is it 2008 or 2009? I don’t know. My brain aches. All I know is:

The very sadly AWOL Lore Stein – Shamefully becket-t-ing
http://pifflewag.blogspot.com/2009/02/shamefully-becket-t-ing.html

David Sewell – Now We’re Really Living
http://www.robotmelon.com/issueseven/dsewell.html

Ani Smith – Rejection slip
http://downinme.com/2009/01/23/rejection-slip/

Oh, and it’s true. Philip Larkin really did eat my hamster. He had it in a buttie. In a fish and chip shop in Hull. With Daddies’ sauce.

May 7th, 2009 / 9:56 pm Gene Morgan—

Sam Pink’s entire blog. It’s like I’ve got a little treat when my RSS feed updates and he’s there.

http://www.impersonalelectroniccommunication.com/

May 7th, 2009 / 10:04 pm JW Veldhoen—

I never heard of any of these people before now, except for Ethan Hawke.

May 7th, 2009 / 10:16 pm Ted—

Mark Leidner’s poems at notnostrums are pretty essential:

http://www.notnostrums.com/leidner.html

May 7th, 2009 / 10:29 pm Frank—

I wish I knew more.
http://takingnaps.blogspot.com/2009/04/dont-do-this-to-me.html

May 7th, 2009 / 11:27 pm Nathan (Nate) Tyree—

Sam Pink is also the balls. We all need more Sam Pink. I want to make him a character in a story I write.

May 8th, 2009 / 2:09 am sam pink—

i feel happy but i am not smiling. i am at someone’s house right now and i am paranoid about taking my boots off because for the last month i have only worn them without socks. my feet are getting super hot and i want to lie on the couch and sleep but they will think i am weird if i sleep with my boots on. un-less, i tell them i am worried about the abrupt start of a random war, and i want to be ready.

May 8th, 2009 / 4:03 am barry—

sam, man, just sneak off into the bathroom and wash them bad boys up, then fill the boots with baby powder and your good to go…

May 8th, 2009 / 12:03 am barry—

sam, man, just sneak off into the bathroom and wash them bad boys up, then fill the boots with baby powder and your good to go…

May 8th, 2009 / 4:04 am barry—

that story reminds me of all the times i been drunk at high school parties and my clothes were so baggy i used to forget to hold them up when i pissed and i spent many nights alone in the corner of starnge houses curled up in a ball until i passed out.

May 8th, 2009 / 7:52 am david erlewine—

I am a white boy with a big flabby face I say looking at myself
in the mirror turning right then left then right.

Best line I’ve read in a long time. Why do I actually do that all the time when the passenger in cars?

This is a great idea. Howie Good is fantastic. And he’s a Journalism professor! I wish he’d taught all my JO classes in college.

May 8th, 2009 / 11:55 am david erlewine—

Arlene Ang is everywhere and deservedly so. But she’s a vampire or claims to be and I sometimes wonder. The hours she puts into Press 1/Leafscape and The Pedestal is amazing..given how much insanely great stuff she produces herself.

May 9th, 2009 / 2:12 pm Heather June Gibbons—

Thanks for including me in your list, Mike. I’m flattered.

June 16th, 2009 / 1:32 am Lesley Jenike—

You like me! Cool!

July 6th, 2009 / 4:55 am Paul—

None of these poems are good.
Certainly not as good as they could
be
Its always a crime
when poems don’t rhyme,
and don’t make sense when they should,
see?

i just made that up
coz all the poetry I’ve seen on the web is cack-a-racka-crappa

August 11th, 2009 / 7:03 am eric lindley—

neat! I’m glad I made the list… It looks like this thread is pretty dead right now, but I wanted to show some appreciation. A good idea to list these, I think, given how hard it is to find/filter interweb stuffs.

December 26th, 2009 / 9:57 pm Storm Fan—

my unsung hero who will die in the end. life is but a bitter murderer.

Robbery

I am very afraid
I vary, in frays, lights hues and all the while (phrase)
Cutting cues in shades above passing windowsills,
Blinded by obsession and wordplay
Hoping that these windows will give me
A break
A junkie walking in the twilight, I’m on my way home
A man made of eyes still couldn’t see
What’s in store around a sale
Children in the Appalachia die from
Affirmed actions acting as a helping hand
In a glove and a white coat
These youth look like abused
Dog mauled baseballs
Their stitches missing, wool eyelash
Wishing for a merry Christmas night
When every day was a mid summers hell
Why keep the plot to yourself
This is where open graves can become
Group outings with a little leap of faith
With a knife I held up, pause, a young man
Another strand of life in slivers, silver pointer
Poignant, I held him up on my faulty shoulders
For a SEPTA transpass to get past
Life
I stole a young bull in a bear market a rebel
With a claw, swipe, card with a hood on the brink
Of campus like a tag in your neck and with my
Shiny pointy finger to his neck I whispered an answer
You asked why is we Americans, Amiri, because evil said so HAHA!
Evil values I eval u ate, hunger was my first memory
So I center attention staged with a ring leader for
My finger, a silver slice of the American dream
My God looks like a Zionist, and he loves ends
Like- come here Palestine, end.
Like a period, no Pablo, just end of a life, sentence,
Words are worthless lisping, he asked me to let him go
My reply was emotional
My mother aint hold me, so I now have you
Polarizing the concrete you walk on, well I hate the city
And the only way out is to be opposing values
Ironic in iron prisons built of prisms from the sun
The rigid offset the Richter and under your
Rays, dark, is this man’s stand for justice
Just under the mark of the devil but above
The dead doves for peace shot at the nobel
Awards for warring noble words
That spot, abstracted between bottom and top
Between head and toe, is a little pocket
A monster, heard there was a secret chord
That david hung from, his choking sobs
Pieced together your lord, but these patterns
Of water make music you don’t care for
And it goes like this, the fourth the firth
Above the minor, below the majors list
A baffled prince steals what he cant afford
And in the same time it took
For me to hit every branch of my family tree on the way down
His hand went to his pocket
He gave me his way out

What are the 50 best poems on the web?

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