A young poet calls from the kitchen. His father is dying in the next room. He asks what to write. — What I Am Willing to Answer For https://allpoetry.com/poem/19221617 #Poetry

turning my father’s breathing mask beneath the lamp, placing it beside the letter my wife left unopened on the kitchen bench. — What I Am Willing to Answer For https://allpoetry.com/poem/19221617 #Poetry

She comes in and says my mother called. For one second I listen to her. Then I write down how listening looked. — What I Am Willing to Answer For https://allpoetry.com/poem/19221617 #Poetry

On a black charger, spear held high, he rode into the distance across the night sky. Called into battle, he simply can't stay; when he'll return, the Fates cannot say. So valiant a warrior, with spear and shield, his courage will stand, his love will not yield. — Ellie and the Pear #Poetry

Most nights he returned to the room they said was his and sat on the bunk with one shoe still on until the pipes started their knocking. — Busy Dying https://allpoetry.com/poem/19185608 #Poetry

A doctor touched the screen with the back of his pen. Here, he said. As if the body were a map and not the place you had been living. — Almost Harmless https://allpoetry.com/poem/19168886 #Poetry

Almost Harmless https://allpoetry.com/poem/19168886 Copyright © 27 June 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

Some nights my hand finds your scar before we awake, and I relearn what you knew then: the cut was necessary, and necessity did not make it clean. — Almost Harmless https://allpoetry.com/poem/19168886 #Poetry

I lifted it once. Black dust. A burnt match. A twist of peel. No reason for the peel. — The Room Kept Its Booking https://allpoetry.com/poem/19149121 #Poetry

I called the police but I wasn't sure how to report a robbery or a missing person, or whether they should check the morgue. — This Morning https://allpoetry.com/poem/18862164 #Poetry

Instead, I wrapped her in my arms. Not steel. Not concrete. Just flesh and promise, which somehow felt stronger. — Bubble Wrap https://allpoetry.com/poem/18878086 #Poetry

Where you appear, I feel the break first— a shudder in the inner order, a loosening I dare not correct. — Vier Elegien https://allpoetry.com/poem/18908657 #Poetry

Small, orange, with one bright edge still refusing the soot. I put it back. I shut the fireguard too hard. — Guest Book https://allpoetry.com/poem/19149121 #Poetry

Guest Book https://allpoetry.com/poem/19149121 Copyright © 2 June 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

Tell me once more how the boy in the yard is banging on the car, kicking the garage door, screaming into the night air like I don't know how that feels. — Antyesti https://allpoetry.com/poem/19113056 #Poetry

https://allpoetry.com/poem/19118738 #Poetry

https://allpoetry.com/poem/19118738 #Poetry

My Little Brown Mouse https://allpoetry.com/poem/19118738 Copyright © 21 May 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

Collapsed https://allpoetry.com/poem/19114885 Copyright © 16 May 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

Collapsed https://allpoetry.com/poem/19114885 Copyright © 15 May 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

Antyesti https://allpoetry.com/poem/19113056 Copyright © 14 May 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

Your book was still there. Open on a desk. The librarian held it flat, not reading, just keeping it from closing. — As Craft https://allpoetry.com/poem/18888721 #Poetry

As Craft https://allpoetry.com/poem/18888721 #Poetry

Letter to an Old Poet https://allpoetry.com/poem/18903976 Copyright © 7 May 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram https://allpoetry.com/poem/18903976 #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

https://allpoetry.com/poem/18903976 #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

I had to pay twice as much for double the defeat. I had to learn how to regret you. — My Child https://allpoetry.com/poem/18864106 #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

For You, Who Called Me to Water https://allpoetry.com/poem/19001128 Copyright © 6 May 2026 by John Wagner #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram https://allpoetry.com/poem/19001128 #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

In this space, our complex measure abandons me. The tangent rises beyond grasping, arching ever upward to the heavens. — Vier Elegien https://allpoetry.com/poem/18908657 #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

You said, "No" like it was a country you’d discovered, and I was only visiting. I stood in the smoke of it, watching the shape of you burn through the outline I’d drawn. — Pilot Light #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #SpilledInk #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetsOfInstagram

I trace your outline in imaginary numbers, not as allowance but containment— because what is unreal still yields when framed correctly. — Control Theory