The ghazal is a formal poem that has roots in seventh-century Arabia and was often sung by musicians. The poet Agha Shahid Ali introduced the form to America. “Ghazal” literally means “the cry of a ...

William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), whose “Spring and All” appeared as the Sun’s Poem of the Day on May 2, famously defined a poem as “a small (or large) machine made of words.” It’s a strange ...