2025's Top 10
Part 1
It’s almost impossible to predict which poems will be the most popular with readers, and equally impossible to know if page views (the only metric available) in any real sense correspond to popularity. But with those provisos, here is a list of the most popular or “most popular” poems published by our online journal Poems for Persons of Interest this year, presented in traditional “countdown” style. Because page views increase with the amount of time posted, none of the poems are from the latest, December issue, which seems a shame.
10: “Desk Job” by Carla Galdo, from the September Poems About Work issue.
I cleaned my desk today, removed the stacks
of newsletters, receipts, and doctor’s bills.
With rag in hand, I made a few attacks
on dried-up evidence of coffee spills.
9: “Third Day, Still Breathing” by Oluwaseyi Daniel Busari (Do This) , from the Easter issue.
The night was a fist, clenched and cold,
Spitting out stars like broken teeth.
The wind whined in the hollow of skulls,
And silence gnawed at the bones of belief.
They dragged him down where the dark was thick,
Where the grave was a mouth, gaping, greedy.
No rooster sang, no curtain tore,
Only the rustle of coins in traitorous palms.
8: “The Villanelle” by John-Thomas Kelly, the winner of the April Parody Contest.
The villanelle is not that hard to master;
like many forms it’s crafted to prevent
the poet from arriving at disaster.
7: “No Vacancy” by Carla Galdo, the winner of the September Poems About Work Contest.
So much depends
upon the missing
puzzle piece that
I spied before
the vacuum sucked
it up into
its cavernous
gray gut. Did it
jump ship like Jonah,
leap from the table
to dodge its fate,
or did a child
just nudge it down?
6: “Holy Saturday” by Sally Thomas, from the Easter issue.
As dawn steps in, the grief-upended world
Resettles on its pinnings. Now the stone
Crowbarred across the door wears the mundane
Bejeweled shine of new dewfall. The one
Who lies in darkness, emptied, stilled, and cold,
Has cradled in himself his newborn death.
5: “Becoming” by Sarah Adeyemo (now the journal’s Poetry Editor), also from the Easter issue.
Tomorrow, I may bear fruit or not,
depending on my attachment
to my root, or how fast my growth
aches are buried like fallen seeds.
4: “Alberta Prairie Breeze” by Stephen Bauhart, from the February Alliteration Contest.
A million million stalks of grass
Sway and whisper, bend, and flow,
Murmuring ‘round those who pass –
Bid they “welcome”? Bid they “go”?
Just walk, my friend – you’ll never know.
3: “Sunrise” by Sally Thomas, from the Easter issue.
Another ordinary day is breaking
In mizzling rain that skims the old flagged walk
And leaves it darkly polished. Low clouds, shaking
Down their chilly burdens, nudge and talk
2: “Before and afterlife” by Sarah Burke Cahalan,the winner of the January Poems of Hope Contest.
Sometimes on the mattress
there are
stains,
the entropic egressions
of those
veins
1: “Makers’ Marks” by Kelly Scott Franklin, winner of the February Alliteration Contest,
I know the brandy freckles and the rum-drop rains
dotting the drafts of Edgar Poe, and I can tell
a tale of manuscripts so marred by circle stains
they might be maps for walking tours of Dante’s hell.
A lot of very nice poems!
This is a nice round-up, fun to know!