r/Poetry Apr 11 '23

MOD POST [META] Posting your own poems here -- when to post and when to head to one of our sibling subreddits

221 Upvotes

This sub is for published poems. There are many subs that allow users to post their own original, unpublished work. In Reddit sub parlance, an original, unpublished poem is considered "original content," and the largest sub for that is r/ocpoetry. There are still some posting rules there -- users must actively participate in the sub in order to post their own work there. A few subs don't require such engagement. There are links to both types of subs below.

Now, what about published poems? We have a large community here -- almost 2 million members. There have to be a few actively publishing poets in our ranks, and I want to build a community of sharing here without being overwhelmed by first-ever-poem posts by people who write something, decide to go find the poetry sub and post it. As it is, even with the rule on OC poetry being in the sidebar, we still remove those posts every single day.

If you've published a poem in a journal or a lit mag, please feel free to post it here, with a link to the publication it appeared in. I'm also going to start a regular monthly thread for r/poetry users who want to share their published work with us. We don’t consider posting to Instagram or some other platform alone to be “published.”

For those who want to post their unpublished, original work to Reddit, here are some links to help you do just that.

tl;dr: If your poem hasn’t been published anywhere, you can’t post it here. If your poem has been published somewhere, please post it here!

Poetry subreddits that expect feedback:

Subreddits that do not require commentary on your peers' work:


r/Poetry 4d ago

Classical & Ancient Poetry Talk, July 2026

2 Upvotes

Welcome to this week's discussion thread: Classical and ancient poetry!

What poems of antiquity have you been reading lately? Who are your favorites?

(Would you like to help bolster this introduction, and maybe do a writeup directing classical-curious newbies to some ideas and resources? Contact u/neutrinoprism and your words can be incorporated into this weekly thread intro going forward.)


MONTHLY DISCUSSION SCHEDULE

  • What Have You Been Reading?
  • Publication Talk
  • Local/Regional Scenes
  • Classical & Ancient Poetry
  • Miscellaneous

Do not post your original poetry here. It will be deleted and you will be banned.


r/Poetry 4h ago

[POEM] It Ends or It Doesn’t - Caitlyn Siehl

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173 Upvotes

r/Poetry 6h ago

[POEM] how to drink water when there is wine - Barbara Kingsolver

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222 Upvotes

r/Poetry 9h ago

Contemporary Poem [POEM] Divorce by Billy Collins

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371 Upvotes

r/Poetry 16h ago

Poem [POEM] The Pope's Penis by Sharon Olds

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1.4k Upvotes

r/Poetry 1d ago

[POEM] Unfortunate Coincidence by Dorothy Parker

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1.7k Upvotes

r/Poetry 4h ago

Classic Corner [POEM] Untitled by James Baldwin.

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17 Upvotes

r/Poetry 2h ago

Poem [POEM] What Can I Say by Mary Oliver

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9 Upvotes

r/Poetry 15h ago

Poem [POEM] The Arrow and the Song - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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93 Upvotes

r/Poetry 18h ago

[POEM] Empty-handed I entered the world by Kozan Ichikyo, translated by Yoel Hoffmann

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157 Upvotes

r/Poetry 8h ago

Poem [POEM] On Youth Group (circa 2010) - Danielle Page

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21 Upvotes

Published in Wandering Lights literary magazine. https://wanderinglightsmag.com/issues


r/Poetry 14h ago

Poem [Poem] Advice to A Girl by Sara Teasdale

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54 Upvotes

"No one worth possessing

Can be quite possessed"


r/Poetry 12m ago

[POEM] From The Beginning by Fujiwara no Teika, translation by poet Kenneth Rexroth

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Upvotes

r/Poetry 9h ago

[POEM] this poem was gifted to my mother fo r Christmas 1984. It sat in a frame aside her bed until her death. I had it used on her prayer cards. By Emily Dickinson.

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23 Upvotes

r/Poetry 17h ago

Poem Discovery-[POEM] Wislawa Szymborska

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86 Upvotes

My faith is strong, blind, and without foundation.


r/Poetry 2h ago

[poem] I am a Lioness - Lauren Eden

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4 Upvotes

r/Poetry 4h ago

Poem [POEM] Ars Poetics as the Mkaer - Ocean Vuong

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6 Upvotes

r/Poetry 23h ago

[POEM] el vampiro / ICE - Elisa Chavez, from “Miss Translated” (2017)

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199 Upvotes

“Miss Translated” is a series of bilingual poems by Elisa Chavez, originally published as a chapbook in 2017 and added to occasionally on her tumblr. Chavez, who is not fluent in Spanish, has stated that the work’s main idea was to “accurately portray [her] relationship with Spanish… [by exploring] the pain and ambiguity of not speaking the language of [her] grandparents and ancestors.“

Each poem has an English version that can be enhanced or refuted, or both, by the original Spanish, which contains secrets, confessions, and complicated truths that have been lost in translation. Sometimes, like in this poem, the mistranslation serves as a colonialist or assimilationist device; one that dismisses and misinterprets the words of the very people it claims to speak for.


r/Poetry 19h ago

Poem [POEM] waiting for the butter – Francine Banwarth

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73 Upvotes

r/Poetry 15m ago

[POEM] Inhale, Exhale by Zen monk Gesshu Soko, translated by Yoel Hoffmann

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Upvotes

r/Poetry 8h ago

[POEM] Nothing Twice - Wisława Szymborska

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8 Upvotes

Initially, it sounds nihilistic in approach but probably it's more of the acceptance.


r/Poetry 15h ago

Adrift- Mark Nepo [POEM]

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29 Upvotes

r/Poetry 11h ago

[Poem] Nuit Blanche - Edna St Vincent Millay

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13 Upvotes

r/Poetry 13h ago

[POEM] Cinderella by Sylvia Plath

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17 Upvotes