Famous Max Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Max poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous max poems. These examples illustrate what a famous max poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Desiderata

by Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the...Read more of this...

The Death Baby

by Anne Sexton
 1. DREAMS

I was an ice baby.
I turned to sky blue.
My tears became two glass beads.
My mouth stiffened into a dumb howl.
They say it was a dream
but I remember that hardening.

My sister at six
dreamt nightly of my death:
"The baby turned to ice.
Someone put her in the refrigerator
and she turned as hard as a Popsicle."

I remember the stink of the liverwurst.
How...Read more of this...

Maximism

by David Lehman
 What I propose is not 
 Marxism, which 
 is not dead yet in 
 the English department, 
Not maximalism, which was 
 a still-born alternative 
 to minimalism, 
Nor Maxism, which rests on 
 adulation of Max 
 Beerbohm, parodist 
 nonpareil, 
But maximism, the love 
 of adages, 
Or Maximism, the advocacy of 
 maximum gastronomic 
...Read more of this...

Helen In Hollywood

by Judy Grahn
 When she goes to Hollywood
she is an angel.

She writes in red red lipstick
on the window of her body,
long for me, oh need me!
Parts her lips like a lotus.

Opening night she stands, poised
on her carpet, luminescent,
young men humming
all around her. She is flying.
Her high heels are wands, her
furs electric. Her bracelets
flashing. How completely
dazzling her complexion,
how vibrant her hair and eyes,
how...Read more of this...

The Big Heart

by Anne Sexton
 "Too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold." - From an essay by W. B. Yeats 

Big heart, 
wide as a watermelon, 
but wise as birth, 
there is so much abundance 
in the people I have: 
Max, Lois, Joe, Louise, 
Joan, Marie, Dawn, 
Arlene, Father Dunne, 
and all in their short lives 
give to me...Read more of this...

A Tale Of The Thirteenth Floor

by Ogden Nash
 The hands of the clock were reaching high
In an old midtown hotel;
I name no name, but its sordid fame
Is table talk in hell.
I name no name, but hell's own flame
Illumes the lobby garish,
A gilded snare just off Times Square
For the maidens of the parish.

The revolving door swept the grimy floor
Like a crinoline grotesque,
And a lowly bum from an ancient...Read more of this...

The Judges Of The Little Box

by Vasko Popa
 to Karl Max Ostojic

Why do you stare at the little box 
That in her emptiness 
Holds the whole world 

If the little box holds 
The world in her emptiness 
Then the antiworld 
Holds the little box in its antihand 

Who'll bite off the antiworld's antihand 
And on that hand 
Five hundred antifingers 

Do you believe 
You'll bite it off...Read more of this...

America

by Allen Ginsberg
 America I've given you all and now I'm nothing. 
America two dollars and twentyseven cents January 
 17, 1956. 
I can't stand my own mind. 
America when will we end the human war? 
Go **** yourself with your atom bomb. 
I don't feel good don't bother me. 
I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind. 
America...Read more of this...

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