Editor’s Note: Tess Taylor is the author of five collections of poetry, including “Work & Days” and “Rift Zone.” She is the editor of the anthology “Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens & the Hands ...

"Minnesota Blue," a wistful poem that celebrates the state's golden fields of wheat and corn shimmering in the early morn, was written by a singer-songwriter in Hawaii who left Minnesota in 1958.

The rhythms and imagery of childhood verses have inspired poets from Robert Louis Stevenson to Elizabeth Bishop. Now it’s your turn For most of us, our first exposure to the joys of verse was when we ...