Edward Hirsch is an American poet and critic. He has written many volumes of poetry and several prose volumes. His book How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love With Poetry became an unexpected bestseller. He also had a long-running column in the Washington Post. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri said of him: “The trademarks of his poems are things I strive to bring to my own writing: to be intimate but restrained, to be tender without being sentimental, to witness life without flinching, and above all, to isolate and preserve those details of our existence so often overlooked, so easily forgotten, so essential to our souls.” Like a…

Robert Francis was an American poet who lived from 1901-1987. He lived in a small house in Amherst, Massachusetts that he built himself. He called it Fort Juniper since Juniper is nearly indestructible. His poetry is reminiscent of that of Robert Frost and Frost himself once said that Francis was America’s best neglected poet. Winter uses all the blues there are. One shade of blue for water, one for ice, Another blue for shadows over snow. The clear or cloudy sky uses blue twice-- Both different blues. And hills row after row Are colored blue according to how far. You know the blue-jay's double-blue device Shows best when there are…

John Ciardi was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 24, 1916. He wrote over 40 volumes of poetry, the book that became the standard text for college and high school poetry classes, a translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, and served as an editor for the Sunday Review. He also was a regular commentator on National Public Radio and taught English at Harvard University and Rutgers University. As well, Ciardi served in the Air Force. He started writing poetry as a way to get his own children interested in reading and always thought that poetry should be accessible to the average reader. By pothole water down a seam of time…