Current Poets Writing Rhyming Verse

March 14, 2019 3:08 PM

I'm looking for current, actively publishing poets who write in rhyming verse. Also, the poems should be good. Thank you.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? to Writing & Language (13 answers total)

Marilyn Hacker comes to mind. She writes primarily
in form, and has a lot of rhyming sonnets, like
this one . Her book “Love, Death,
and the Changing of the Seasons” is a collection of related sonnets about love and heartbreak and it is wonderful.
posted by nancynickerson at 3:25 PM on March 14, 2019 [5 favorites]

Absolutely second Marilyn Hacker. Also James Fenton, whose poems have sometimes been used as song lyrics, very readable and simple (but with depth) and forceful.
posted by huimangm at 4:08 PM on March 14, 2019

Seconding both the above, plus Wendy Cope.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:12 PM on March 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

Dana Gioia.
posted by kevinbelt at 5:10 PM on March 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

Gail White works in form and has a number of rhyming poems.
posted by waffleriot at 5:27 PM on March 14, 2019

Julie Kane writes frequently in rhyme
posted by Ideal Impulse at 8:09 PM on March 14, 2019

Molly Peacock is also known for her strong rhyme schemes but I can’t find a great example in a few minutes of googling.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 8:25 PM on March 14, 2019

I was going to come and recommend hacker
posted by PinkMoose at 9:25 PM on March 14, 2019

Vikram Seth
posted by athirstforsalt at 10:13 PM on March 14, 2019

Roz Kaveney!
posted by Mistress at 2:10 AM on March 15, 2019

I'd suggest Joshua Mehigan. Here's a good example, and a link to more:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/56038/the-orange-bottle

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joshua-mehigan#tab-poems
posted by 6and12 at 6:49 AM on March 15, 2019

Seconding Wendy Cope, and adding Liz Lochhead - much of her stuff doesn't rhyme, but you might like the stuff that does, like Epithalamium and A Night In.

Oh! and thumbing through my shelf of anthologies:

Mary Jo Salter, Video Blues
Dana Gioia, Alley Cat Love Song

Great question. I love poetry that rhymes.
posted by kristi at 6:49 PM on March 19, 2019

Two more:

Laurel Blossom, Fight
R. S. Gwynn, Shakespearean Sonnet
Timothy Steele, Long Paces (Wikipedia says "Timothy Steele (born January 22, 1948) is an American poet, who generally writes in meter and rhyme.")

Also, Kay Ryan uses rhyme in surprising and wonderful ways - not always at the ends of lines, but in delightful internal and suggested ways.

All You Did
The Best of It
And this Coldfront profile of Kay Ryan includes "Turtle" and "New Rooms."
posted by kristi at 7:06 PM on March 19, 2019