LibGuides: Poetry: Home

Local Poetry Resources

Poetry Society of Texas
The purpose of the Poetry Society is to secure fuller public recognition of the art of poetry, to encourage the writing of poetry by Texans, and to kindle a finer and more intelligent appreciation of poetry, especially the work of living poets who interpret the spirit and heritage of Texas.
National Poetry Month San Antonio (NPMSA)
The City of San Antonio celebrates National Poetry Month in April every year. It features events, books, and resources that promote poetry. In 2012, San Antonio was the first major city in Texas to appoint a Poet Laureate.
Mega Corazon
Mega Corazon is an annual event every April in San Antonio. It brings together the best poets and performers from around South Texas, as they read and perform their work. The event is livestreamed for free, and videos from past events are available on its website.

Upcoming Events and Local Poetry Groups

The Blah Poetry Spot (Write Out Art Inc)
The Blah Poetry Spot hosts various poetry events. Open mic poetry is every Monday at Amp Room (2407 N. St. Mary's) at 8 PM. Every Thursday is a show called "Words and Sh*t," featuring a performance from a particular poet. Past performances include the current SA Poet Laureate, Andrea Sanderson. Also, every Sunday is a writers group meeting at 2 PM.
*Note: Events are currently online via Zoom because of COVID-19.
Sun Poet's Society
Sun Poet's Society is a poetry reading group. The group meets every Wednesday at 7 PM at Berry to Bean Coffeehouse (3900 Broadway St.). Any poet is invited to read his or her work.
*Note: Poetry readings are currently online via Facebook because of COVID-19.
PuroSlam Poetry
Poets can perform their work every Tuesday at Korova (107 E. Martin St.). Sign up is at 9:30 PM, with the Slam starting at 10 PM. Has $1 cover.
*Note: Poetry readings are currently online via Facebook and YouTube because of COVID-19.
Jazz Poets of San Antonio
Jazz Poets of San Antonio meets at least once a month at Lighthouse Lounge (1016 Cincinnati Ave.). The events are free. The first hour is usually a writers workshop, followed by an open mic. As poets read their work during the open mic, a jazz band improvises a tune based on the poetry.
*Note: Poetry readings are currently suspended because of COVID-19.

Websites of Interest

Project Gutenberg Poetry Bookshelf - Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. For more information about Project Gutenberg, see the Welcome Page.

Poem-a-Day - A daily poetry series publishing new work by contemporary poets.

Poem-a-Day Podcast - A daily digital poetry series

Poetry Near You - Find poetry readings, workshops, festivals, conferences, literary organizations, and poetry-friendly bookstores, and learn more about poets laureate, in your area.

Essays About Poetry - Browse hundreds of essays, interviews, and articles about poets and poetry.

Texas State Poets Laureate - A historic list of Texas State Poets Laureate.

For a list of the National Poetry Month events at the San Antonio Public Library that happened in 2024, visit this page

All About Poetry

Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words by Susan G. Wooldridge
Publication Date: 2009-03-25
Following the success of several recent inspirational and practical books for would-be writers, Poemcrazy is a perfect guide for everyone who ever wanted to write a poem but was afraid to try. Writing workshop leader Susan Wooldridge shows how to think, use one's senses, and practice exercises that will make poems more likely to happen. From the Hardcover edition.
Don't Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poems by Stephanie Burt
Call Number: OVERDRIVE EBOOK
Publication Date: 2019-05-21
In Don't Read Poetry, award-winning poet and literary critic Stephanie Burt offers an accessible introduction to the seemingly daunting task of reading, understanding, and appreciating poetry. Burt dispels preconceptions about poetry and explains how poems speak to one another—and how they can speak to our lives. She shows readers how to find more poems once they have some poems they like, and how to connect the poetry of the past to the poetry of the present. Burt moves seamlessly from Shakespeare and other classics to the contemporary poetry circulated on Tumblr and Twitter. She challenges the assumptions that many of us make about "poetry," whether we think we like it or think we don't, in order to help us cherish—and distinguish among—individual poems. A masterful guide to a sometimes confounding genre, Don't Read Poetry will instruct and delight ingénues and cognoscenti alike.
A Little Book on Form by Robert Hass
Call Number: OVERDRIVE EBOOK
Publication Date: 2017-04-04
An acute and deeply insightful book of essays exploring poetic form and the role of instinct and imagination within form--from former poet laureate, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning author Robert Hass. Robert Hass--former poet laureate, winner of the National Book Award, and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize--illuminates the formal impulses that underlie great poetry in this sophisticated, graceful, and accessible volume of essays drawn from a series of lectures he delivered at the renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop. A Little Book on Form brilliantly synthesizes Hass's formidable gifts as both a poet and a critic and reflects his profound education in the art of poetry. Starting with the exploration of a single line as the basic gesture of a poem, and moving into an examination of the essential expressive gestures that exist inside forms, Hass goes beyond approaching form as a set of traditional rules that precede composition, and instead offers penetrating insight into the true openness and instinctiveness of formal creation. A Little Book on Form is a rousing reexamination of our longest lasting mode of literature from one of our greatest living poets.

Writing Poetry: Some Typical Introductory Tips (by Monty Holcomb)

While there are various styles and different schools of thought on the subject of what constitutes a “poem,” these 5 tips provided below will generally be useful to most beginners in helping them construct better poems.

Choose a personal experience that affected you in a significant way Writing about something that you yourself directly experienced or observed that made a significant impact upon you is almost always better than writing about something that you did not directly experience. For example, while I still could potentially write an excellent poem about an imaginative scenario about how I walked on the moon as an astronaut, in general, a poem about something I experienced in real life will probably be more powerful. So, for example, instead of trying to write about an imaginary walk on the moon, I decide that I will probably produce a more powerful poem if I try instead to write about a real memory I have. So, in this case, for my topic, I decide to write about how, years ago, I remember observing how scared my friend Johnny got when he entered this strange room in an abandoned house that we were both exploring as kids.

Describe things viscerally (in a way that can be heard, touched, tasted or smelled) rather than abstractly whenever possible. For example, instead of saying …

“As he went into the room

Johnny was scared”

…you could say instead…

“As Johnny entered the room he shivered,

He could hear the rapid pounding in his chest.

He could hear his frantic breaths”

Once you are happy with your descriptions, try to be less wordy and use as few words as you can whenever it is possible. For example, we could improve what we have refined so far even more. Instead of…

“As Johnny entered the room he shivered,

He could hear the rapid pounding in his chest.

He could hear his frantic breaths”

…you could say instead…

“Strange room

Sudden shiver

Rapid pounding

Frantic breaths”

Rhyme schemes are optional based on the style you want to convey. As you can see, what we have so far does not rhyme but it is clearly a poem.

“Strange room

Sudden shiver

Rapid pounding

Frantic breaths”

Now, notice that if we change it slightly in an attempt to make it rhyme, it has a very different feel.

“Strange room

Sudden shivers

Rapid pounding

Breath quivers”

Typically the first option will be your stronger one, but there are times when you might prefer to utilize a rhyme scheme. For example, you might want a rhyme scheme when writing poetic lyrics that are intended for a song.

Sometimes, making an analogy to something else can serve as an effective device for you poem. Usually, the less abstract the analogy, the stronger it is. For example, instead of saying…

“Strange room

Sudden shiver

Rapid pounding

Frantic breaths

Like a hurricane”

…you could say instead…

“Strange room

Sudden shiver

Rapid pounding

Frantic breaths

Like ocean waves

Smashing the rocks

On a battered shore

Of a deserted land"

Hopefully some, if not all of these tips, will be useful to you in helping you construct your poems. So, as you pursue your writing, good luck in finding your own voice and style in this wide world that is poetry.

Digital Videos

Poetry in America, Season 1, Episode 1 by Elisa New; Leah Reis-Dennis
Call Number: OVERDRIVE STREAMING VIDEO
Publication Date: 2018-03-28
"I cannot dance opon my toes" by Emily Dickinson, featuring Cynthia Nixon, Marie Howe, Yo Yo Ma, Jill Johnson. Poetry in America gathers distinguished interpreters from all walks of life to explore and debate 12 unforgettable American poems. Athletes and poets, politicians and musicians, architects, scientists, actors, entrepreneurs, and citizens of all ages join host and Harvard professor Elisa New to experience and share the power of poetry in this visually dazzling and archivally rich series.
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen; Mark Teague
Call Number: JUVENILE OVERDRIVE STREAMING VIDEO
Publication Date: 2013-07-05
Few words pack a lot of punch in this delightful story about bedtime rituals. There will be no pouting or shouting or moping or moaning when the lights go out because dinosaur kids everywhere will want to see this production again and again).