# Need help with poetry, fast!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-poetry-fast/484742>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 6, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-poetry-fast/484742 "2009-02-06T19:33:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-poetry-fast/484742/1 "2009-02-06T19:33:54Z")

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I’m looking for a living poet who writes about nature. Or who writes in rhyme and meter. Either one. I need to get a book of poems by Monday, and I can’t think of anyone who I like.

Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-poetry-fast/484742/2 "2009-02-06T19:40:19Z")

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Richard Wilbur is probably the most prolific and proficient poet writing in rhymed verse today. I’m pretty sure he’s still alive.

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**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-poetry-fast/484742/3 "2009-02-06T23:28:41Z")

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W.S. Merwin writes about nature (but does not use rhyme or meter), and IMO, is a bloody genius (he’s my favorite living poet). If your bookstore or library has his collection called _The Second Four Books of Poems_ (which compile these four books: _The Moving Target, The Lice, The Carrier of Ladders_, and _Writings for an Unfinished Accompaniment_, which can also be found separately), that’s a good place to start. His later works are longer in length (like, book-length epics) but still very much centered on nature and the environment.

You can also read some of his poetry [here](http://www.poemhunter.com/w-s-merwin/).