“We know what we are, but not what we may be,” Shakespeare famously opined. The five poems featured below take us on eloquent journeys of self-discovery: a descendant of an American Indian tribe wrestles with her right to that identity; after a lifetime in the ring, a boxer surrenders to a more tender version of himself; a grieving woman uncovers some mysterious truths about herself inside a dream she shares with her dog. Read the Top 5 Poems of the Week, and embark on your own voyage of discovery.
The Poem of the Week series for 2016–2017 starts on November 7. If you would like to send a poem for consideration as a Poem of the Week, please see our Guidelines. Each October the top five Poems of the Week are selected for special notice.
Congratulations to the winners. Each receives a $150 award.
Kenzie Allen
How to Be a Real Indian
You’re one Indian and a fraud, flying toward Delaware.
Malachi Black
De Clementia: Prayer of the Last Prizefighter
Surrender me to the snail shell’s supple purple curve.
Jennifer Chang
How to Live in an American Town
What do I love? I love the dog. I love an empty room.
Christian Teresi
Mike Tyson Explains Middle Age to John Keats
They needed to fight, and that’s as honest as it gets.
Marcus Wicker
Incident with Nature, Late
All I am is a singing saw through a bell of flesh.
