The HyperTexts

Most Popular Poets and Pages for 2011

with comments by Michael R. Burch, editor of The HyperTexts

We recently began using Google Analytics to study how people are finding The HyperTexts, and to learn which of our poets and pages are the most popular with readers. This is what we've learned so far . . .

THT is currently averaging around half a million page views per year, and the trend is constantly upward. Most of these page views come from people accessing THT via Google and other search engines; such "backdoor entrances" are not registered on our main page hit counter. Readers are coming to us from all around the globe: primarily from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., India, Australia, the Philippines, Germany, Italy, France, Russia and South Africa ... but also from more exotic/esoteric locales like Guernsey, Morocco, Jordan, Ghana, New Zealand, Iceland and the Palestinian Territories.

I strongly disagree with poets who complain about readers being "dumbed down" and having little or no interest in poetry. I have never credited this strange myth because as a young boy I read the poems of the best poets with great interest, voluntarily, and I have never stopped reading and enjoying good poetry. But of course very few people in their right minds and with busy schedules want to waste time reading dull tasteless pseudo-intellectual  gruel. So the onus is on poets to deliver poems that are worth readers' time and effort. Since I started THT many moons ago, my own poetry and essays have been read so many times I would blush like a virgin bride to "reveal all." And because I have a hand in every page published by THT, even when I'm not the original writer, I'm still reaching half a million readers per year. So rather than complaining about the poor taste and apathy of readers, if you're a writer and you want to be read, please consider the advantages of writing well about things normal human beings like to read about, and helping other writers as you are able. Google is helping the cream rise to the top, so to speak, so there's no longer any need to despair about all the bad poetry making the good poetry "impossible to find." If you want to prove to yourself that good poetry can be found quite easily, using Google, just do a search for "best poems ever" or "best poems of all time" or "best sonnets," etc. If you do, chances are you'll see our pages popping up high in the rankings. That didn't happen by accident. It took many years of hard work, putting together pages that Google would consider "highly relevant." As the old saw goes, "the proof is in the pudding" and I feel that I have proven that—to paraphrase the voice that spoke to Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams—"If you write it [good poetry], they [readers] will come." And if you publish poetry with the more relevant websites, Google will help them find it.

Our most popular categories are:

Poetry in General
Hiroshima Poetry
Holocaust Poetry
Nakba Poetry
Best Poems Series
Epigrams

More important than sheer numberd of hits is the "captivatingness" of poetry and literary prose. So before we reveal our most popular poets and pages, in terms of page views, let's give a tip of the cap to the poets and pages that seem to be the best at holding our readers' interest. These rankings were developed using data provided to us by Google Analytics. An asterisk denotes a contemporary poet who is not a celebrity or someone known primarily for doing something other than writing poetry. (Please note that some fine poets did not make this list because they didn't have enough page views to qualify). I think this list "makes sense" because Robert Mezey ranks highest among contemporary poets published by THT, and I have long considered him one of the very best contemporary poets, and because the other contemporary poets ranking highest on this list are also among the best poets THT has published, in my opinion. Please keep in mind that THT has published hundreds of accomplished poets and other writers, so just to appear anywhere in these rankings is a notable achievement.

Poets and other writers who especially captivated our readers' interest:

Wallace Stevens
Hart Crane
A. E. Housman
Robert Frost
Miklós Radnóti
Thomas Wyatt
Oscar Wilde
The Archpoet
Robert Mezey*
Luis Omar Salinas*
Janus Korczak
A. E. Stallings*
Rhina P. Espaillat*
X. J. Kennedy*
Louise Bogan
Leonard Nimoy
Conrad Aiken
T. Merrill*
Richard Moore*
Albert Einstein
Nelson Mandela
Leslie Mellichamp*
Robert Burns
Matsuo Basho
Ernest Dowson
Ezra Pound
Michael R. Burch*
Jack Butler*
John Whitworth*
Yala Korwin*
Abraham Lincoln
Zyskandar Jaimot*
John Dowland
R. S. (Sam) Gwynn*
Nadia Anjuman*
Robert Bridges
Michael McClintock*
W. H. Davies
Elie Wiesel
Charles Martin*
Jim Barnes*
J. Patrick Lewis*
Wladyslaw Szlengel
Ann Drysdale*
T. S. Kerrigan*
Timothy Murphy*
Julie Kane*
Norman R. Shapiro*
Richard Wakefield*
Ethna Carbery*
Fadwa Tuqan*
Jennifer Reeser*
Mary E. Moore*
Bruce Weigl*
Catherine Chandler*
Kevin N. Roberts*
Alfred Dorn*
Joseph S. Salemi*
Dorothy Parker
Sophie Hannah Jones*
A. M. (Mike) Juster*
Quincy R. Lehr*
Len Krisak*
Jerzy Ficowski
Charles Fishman*
Sally Cook*
Tawfik Zayyad
Anna Evans*
Janet Kenny*
R. Nemo Hill*
Eunice de Chazeau
Greg Alan Brownderville*
Jesse Anger*
Lee Sominsky*
Harvey Stanbrough*
Karen Kelsay Davies*
Nahida Izzat*
Michael Cantor*
Moore Moran*
Pope John Paul II
Dennis Greene*
Paul Stevens*
Gail White*
Sheema Kalbasi*
George Held*
Terese Coe*
Ronald Reagan
Takashi (Thomas) Tanemori*
Joe M. Ruggier*
Tom Riley*
Sieglinde Wood*
Philip Quinlan*
Alfred Nichol*
Adrie Kusserow*
Wendy Taylor Carlisle*
John Z. Guzlowski*

Other pages that especially held our readers' interest:

The Best Poems Ever
Epigrams in Poetry and Literature
"Romanticism Then and Now" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Poems for Haiti
For Darfur
"No Hell in the Bible" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Janet Kenny Interview and Poems
Songs and Poems that Changed the World
"Let Freedom Sing" by Michael R. Burch
R. Nemo Hill Interview with Tom Merrill
John Whitworth Interview with Michael R. Burch
Famous Insults
"Did Jesus Walk on Water" by Judy "Joy" Jones
Lyric Poetry
Eratosphere Poems and Essays by Michael R. Burch
In Peace’s Arms, Not War's
The Best Free Verse Poems of All Time
"Deor's Lament" Translation by Michael R. Burch
The Masters
Basho Translations by Michael R. Burch
The Most Beautiful Poems in the English Language
English Poetic Roots
"The Wife's Lament" Translation by Michael R. Burch
"Osama bin Laden and the Twin Terrors" Essay by Michael R. Burch
"Wulf and Eadwacer" Translation by Michael R. Burch
Formal Poetry Essay by Michael R. Burch and "Regarding the Great Divide" by T. Merrill
Mysterious Ways
"Is God a Homophobic Intolerant Bigot?" Essay by Michael R. Burch

Another message of popularity, other than raw numbers of page views, is how often readers actively seek out particular poets and themes by name. It's encouraging that a number of contemporary poets are being sought by name by so many readers.

Our most popular search terms are:

Poetry and related terms such as "formal," "romantic," etc.
Holocaust poetry and related terms
Hiroshima poetry and related terms
Epigrams
William Blake
Palestinian poetry and related terms such as "Nakba"
Oscar Wilde poetry and epigrams
Leonard Nimoy poetry
A. E. Stallings*
Luis Omar Salinas*
X. J. Kennedy*
Michael R. Burch*
Pope John Paul II poetry
Nelson Mandela poetry and quotes
Makoto Fujimura
R. S. Gwynn*
Yala Korwin*
Miklós Radnóti
T. Merrill*
Various Mysterious Ways search terms
Ronald Reagan poetry
Albert Einstein epigrams
Haiti poetry
Darfur poetry
"His Confession" by the Archpoet
Poems about 9-11
Janus Korczak
"Deor's Lament"
Elie Wiesel
Nadia Anjuman*
Rock poetry
Jim Barnes*
Robert Mezey*
Robert Bridges
Jennifer Reeser*
Quincy Lehr*
Rhina Espaillat*
Greg Brownderville*
Joseph Salemi*
Abraham Lincoln
Judy Jones*
J. Patrick Lewis*
Julie Kane*

In order of popularity strictly by the number of page views, our most popular pages are as follows:

Main Poetry Index
Holocaust Poetry
Hiroshima Poetry
Mysterious Ways
Best Poems Ever

(The pages above were viewed 30,000 or more times)

Epigrams
Nakba/Palestinian Poetry and Essays

(The pages above were viewed 20,000 or more times)

William Blake
Michael R. Burch*
Stone of Destiny
"Parables of Zion" Essay by Michael R. Burch

(The pages above were viewed 10,000 or more times)

For Darfur
Pope John Paul II
Ronald Reagan
Miklós Radnóti
Yala Korwin*
"No Hell in the Bible" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Abraham Lincoln
Albert Einstein Poems, Epigrams and Quotes
Oscar Wilde

(The pages above were viewed 5,000 or more times)

Nelson Mandela
Rock Jukebox 
Haiti Poetry
Current & Back Issues
Elie Wiesel
T. Merrill*
"Are the 1967 Borders of Israel 'Indefensible'?" Essay by Michael R. Burch

(The pages above were viewed 2,500 or more times)

Flying the Flag on 9-11
Let Freedom Sing
Lyric Poetry
Genocide Poetry
About The HyperTexts
The Best Free Verse
Leonard Nimoy
Formal Poetry Essay by Michael R. Burch and "Regarding the Great Divide" by T. Merrill
"Osama bin Laden and the Twin Terrors" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Judy "Joy" Jones*

(The pages above were viewed 2,000 or more times)

The Best Female Singer-Songwriters of All Time
X. J. Kennedy*
Makoto Fujimura
Robert Bridges
The Best Songs Ever
A. E. Housman
R. S. Gwynn*
Songs and Poems that Changed the World
Luis Omar Salinas*
The Best Christmas Songs of All Time
Famous Insults
A. E. Stallings*
Nadia Anjuman*
Ezra Pound
Richard Moore*

(The pages above were viewed 1,500 or more times)

The Best Poem of All Time
William Blake
Sophie Hannah Jones*
Thomas Wyatt
Search The HyperTexts
Romanticism Essay by Michael R. Burch
The Most Beautiful Poems in the English Language
Trail of Tears Poetry
Brian Coleman Tribute Page
Halloween Poetry
Gaza Poetry
Julie Kane*
The Archpoet
Ivan Panin
J. Patrick Lewis*
The Masters
Japan Earthquake Poetry
Einstein on Palestine
Joseph Salemi*
Wallace Stevens
John Dowland

(The pages above were viewed 1,000 or more times)

Janus Korczak
Eratosphere Poems and Essays by Michael R. Burch
W. H. Davies
Rhina P. Espaillat*
The Children of Gaza Speak, Who Will Listen?
"SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Bertolt Brecht Translations  by Michael R. Burch
"Romanticism Then and Now" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Annie Finch*
Paul Celan Translations  by Michael R. Burch
Iqbal Tamimi*
Kids Say the Damndest Things, Usually in Church
Hart Crane
John Whitworth*
Robert Mezey*

(The pages above were viewed 750 or more times)

Dorothy Parker
"The Wife's Lament" Translation by Michael R. Burch
"Todd Burpo: Spinning Heaven for Profit?" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Fadwa Tuqan*
Bronislawa Wajs
Bruce Weigl*
Martin Niemöller
The Best Sad/Dark Poems
The Best Funny Epigrams
Wladyslaw Szlengel
The Best Poets of All Time
"Should Christians Use the Bible to Deny Palestinians their Human Rights?" Essay by Michael R. Burch
English Poetic Roots
"Deor's Lament" Translation by Michael R. Burch
Terezín Children's Holocaust Poems
Conrad Aiken
Arab Spring Poetry
Reuven Moskovitz
Jim Barnes*
Sappho Translations by Michael R. Burch and other Poets
The Coronation Stone/Jacob's Pillar
Greg Alan Brownderville*
The Best Love Poems of All Time
Mahmoud Darwish*
Quincy R. Lehr*
Dahlia Ravikovitch*
Dear God (Children's Musings about God)
Gaza: Death's Door
Janet Kenny*

(The pages above were viewed 500 or more times)

Chaya Feldman
Darrell Scott Columbine Poem
Takashi Tanemori*
Jennifer Reeser*
9-11 Poetry
Allama Iqbal Translations by Michael R. Burch and other Poets
"Child of 9-11" by Michael R. Burch, for Christina-Taylor Green
Robert Burns Translations by Michael R. Burch
Palestinian Freedom Walk
Louise Bogan
"The Metaphor of Photon Entanglement" Essay  by Michael R. Burch
"Can there be a Just Peace for Israel?" Essay  by Michael R. Burch
"Nakba Day" Essay  by Michael R. Burch
Catherine Chandler*

(The pages above were viewed 400 or more times)

Thomas Campion
Dan Almagor*
"Was the Civil War Fought Over Slavery or States' Rights?" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Review of The Eclectic Muse
Basho Translations by Michael R. Burch
Jerzy Ficowski
George Eliot
"How Can We End Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide Forever?" Essay by Michael R. Burch
In Peace's Arms, Not War's
Thanksgiving in Poetry
The Best of The HyperTexts
"Wulf and Eadwacer" Translation by Michael R. Burch
Tawfik Zayyad
Richard Wakefield*
"The Poisonous Tomato" Essay by Immanuel A. Michael
Robert Frost
Ann Drysdale*
Kevin N. Roberts*
"Rat Zingers Children" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Grace Notes
Charles Martin*
Best Christian Poetry
Michael McClintock*
Emily Dickinson
Most Popular Poets and Pages (this page)
Best Haiku
Helen Bar-Lev's "Genie Angels"
Gordon Ramel*
Best Lyric Poetry
Anita Dorn*
Alfred Dorn*
Anthony Hecht*
Roger Hecht*
Zyskandar Jaimot*

(The pages above were viewed 300 or more times)

Urmila Subbarao
Mark Twain Poems, Epigrams and Quotes
Primo Levi
The Best Short Poems of All Time
"Christian Mothers and the Cult of Hell" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Wit & Fluff
Essays & Assays
Jack Butler*
Best Romantic Poetry
Ethna Carbery
Harold Monro
Sharron Rose*
Maureen Cannon*
Ogaden Poetry
"Is God a Homophobic Intolerant Bigot?" Essay by Michael R. Burch
Mandela, Tutu and Carter on Palestine
The Best Female Poets of All Time
Michel de Montaigne
Ric Masten*
Charles Fishman*
The Best Sonnets of All Time
Peter Austin*
Yakov Azriel*
Norman Shapiro*
Esoterica
Peace
A Brief History of the Epigram, with Examples
Arthurian Poems
Michael, Wonderful and Glorious
Christmas Poems
Hanan Ashrawi
Janet Kenny*
Robert Crawford*
Wendy Videlock*
Hatred of God in Haiti
Jared Carter*
Michael Cantor*
Homeless Holocaust
Best Poetry Translations
O, Terrible Angel (poems written for Beth Burch by Michael R. Burch)
Nahida Izzat*
R. Nemo Hill*
Timothy Murphy*
Best One-Liners and Zingers
The Heretical Poets
"English Poet Meter" Essay by Richard Moore
"Lament for the Makaris" Translation by Michael R. Burch
Edmund Conti*
Christian Pacosz *
Michael Cantor*
Adrie Kusserow*
"Sweet Rose of Virtue" Translation by Michael R. Burch
Anna Evans*
Sieglinde Wood*
A. M. (Mike) Juster*
Alfred Nicol*

(The pages above were viewed 200 or more times)

e. e. cummings
Federico Garcia Lorca
Salomon Meisels
George Held*
About The HyperTexts
Trail of Tears Poetry
Vilem Pollak
Carmen Willcox*
Heresy Hearsay
Lee Slonimsky*
David Rosenthal*
"What Was the Holocaust?"
Best Puns
Maryann Corbett*
Karen Kelsay Davies*
Sandra Jane Burch
Wendy Taylor Carlisle*
Martial Epigrams with Translations by Joseph S. Salemi
Best Political Poems and Epigrams
Terese Coe*
Tom Riley*
Ancient Greek Epitaphs with Translations by Michael R. Burch
George Amabile*
"A Simple Proof that the Bible is not Infallible"
Harvey Stanbrough*
Ber Horvitz
Sheema Kalbasi*

(The pages above were viewed 150 or more times)

The Best Limericks
"Who the Hell was Furkan Dogan, and Why Should We Care?"
T. S. Kerrigan*
Michael Pendragon*
Pope Poems
Sean Teaford*
Philip Quinlan*
Avraham Burg*
Best Political Epigrams
Jendi Reiter*
Joe M. Ruggier*
Moore Moran*
Alfred Nichol*
Rainer Maria Rilke Translations by Michael R. Burch
Ernest Dowson
Mary Rae*
Pablo Neruda
Athenian Epitaph Translations by Michael R. Burch
Jeffrey Woodward*
Richard Vallance*
The Worst Song Lyrics Ever
Where Angels Fear to Tread
Mary E. Moore*
Rose Kelleher*
Len Krisak*
Russell Bittner*
Beth Burch Sings "The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey"
"Caedmon's Hymn" Translation by Michael R. Burch
Sally Cook*

(The pages above were viewed 125 or more times)

Best Rock Lyrics
Mahnaz Badihian*
Ian Thornley*
Leslie Mellichamp*
William Carlos Williams*
Andrey Kneller*
Leo Yankevich*
Michael Stowers*
Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal*
Dennis Greene*
Michael Ferris*
Richard Wakefield*
"American Warmongering"
Ellaraine Lockie*
Deborah Warren*
David Gwilym Anthony*
"jesus hates me this i know"  by Michael R. Burch
CarrieAnn Thunell*
Wendy Sloan*
Karen Harlow Visual Art
Max Babi*
V. Ulea*
Viral Poetry
Gail White*
The Glob Blog
Anton N. (Tony) Marco*
Keith Holyoak*
Marion Shore*
Peace
Daniel Waters*
Jill Williams*
Religious Epigrams
Jesse Anger*
Billy Coyle*
AFTER by Sharron Rose

(The pages above were viewed 100 or more times)

Frank Osen*
John Beaton*
Walt Whitman
Paul Lake*
Alan Wickes*
Zainab Elberry*
June Kysilko Kraeft*
Wade Newman*
David Alpaugh*
"How Long the Night" Translation by Michael R. Burch
Michael Bennett*
Noah Hoffenberg*
Juleigh Howard-Hobson*
Jim Dunlap*
Seamus Cassidy*
Priscilla Barton*
Featured Long Poems
Simon Perchik*
Mark Allinson*
Mary Malone*
Douglas Worth*
Carolyn Raphael*
Dr. Amitabh Mitra*
Harold McCurdy*
Eunice de Chazeau*
Jack Foley*
Joyce Wilson*
Jan Schreiber*
Sandy VanDoren*
Claudia Gary Annis*
Paul Stevens*
Leland Jamieson*
Marly Youmans*
Abbud El-Dieb*
Ashok Niyogi*
Michael Snider*
Mary Keelan Meisel
Agnes Wathall
Beverly Burch*
James Bobrick*
Hudson Owen*
Ed Zuk*
Jo-Anne Cappeluti*
Michelle Leavitt*
The Glob Blog
. . . and many other pages

What have we learned so far? First, readers are looking for topical poems on particular subjects: the Holocaust, the Nakba, epigrams, and so on. Also, it's obvious that celebrities have an advantage: readers are looking for poems by or about people like Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein and Ronald Reagan. But there is still plenty of activity on the pages of poets we consider among the best we've published, including Robert Mezey, X. J. Kennedy, Yala Korwin, T. Merrill, Richard Moore, Luis Omar Salinas and A. E. Stallings. The biggest surprise so far is our high rankings with Google for search terms like "Best Poems," "Epigrams," "Holocaust," "Nakba," "Hiroshima," and "Darfur."

The HyperTexts