http://www.poets.org/index.cfm
Click on Find a Poet
Click on the letter of the last name
You’ll see a list of famous American poets

Top Site  http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/
Alphabetical link to 161 modern American poet websites
Good ethnic variety, excellent poetry teaching ideas under syllabus 
Not all are appropriate for middle school

http://www.msu.edu/~miazgama/aapoets.htm
African American poets of the 20^th centry
Good site
Again, preview first

http://nubianpoets.com/
African American poets
Good website

http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/poetryindex.html
Harlem Renaissance poets
Excellent site

http://www.americanpoems.com/
Click on Poets
American Poets
Traditional list
Good chronological listing

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/amlitpoetry19th.htm
19^th century American poets
Emerson, Longfellow, Dunbar

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listamericanna.html
Excellent hotlist of American poets
Divided by male/female 

http://www.rothpoem.com/listasia.html
Asian American poet listing

My students liked Lee Young-Li
(please preview first)

Top Site http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/
A poem a day for 180 days
Wonderful website

http://www.hti.umich.edu/a/amverse/
American poetry prior to 1920

http://lcweb.loc.gov/poetry/
From the Library of Congress
Note the recorded poetry
Students like Billy Collins (but preview first)

http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/LitKicks.html
NOT FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL
The Beat poets
The Transcendentalists

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/poetic-terms.html
Nice listing of poetry terms. I would add the following:

1. Tone and how it contributes to the meaning

2. Diction, the word choice [ie.all technical terms or all mechanical terms or all scientific terms] and how it contributes to the meaning

3. imagery, the different types, and how each type

contributes to the meaning i.e. nature imagery, color imagery, sound imagery, shape imagery

4. Language/syntax and how it contributes to the meaning

5. Allusion [usually Biblical/mythological]] and how it contributes to the meaning

6. Speaker [child?adult? animal?] and how this choice contributes to the meaning

Note long listing of poets.

Note poetry groupings i.e. cowboy poets

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5698/
Hispanic American poets
Search on google for the individual poets

http://www.geocities.com/edickinson2002/
One of the best Emily Dickinson websites
Links to over 460 of her poems

http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature/Authors/F/Frost,_Robert/
Robert Frost links

http://www.bartleby.com/people/Sandburg.html
Carl Sandburg links

http://www.favoritepoem.org/forteachers/lessonplans-links/whatispoetry.html
Nice lesson ideas for reading poetry

http://www.psd.k12.co.us/schools/blevins/poetry/links/
EXCELLENT site
Links to a variety of topics – lesson plans, poets, and more
Ideas for students, teachers, and contests

http://www.lessonplansearch.com/Thematic_Units/Poetry/
Excellent strategies
Includes thematic links, musical links, etc.
Keep this website bookmarked