Kay Ryan is an American poet with seven poetry collections and an anthology of both selected and new poems. 

She served as the sixteenth United States Poet Laureate from 2008 to 2010.

Sharing one of her poems, ‘Token Loss’ -

To the dragon 
 any loss is 
 total. His rest 
 is disrupted 
 if a single 
 jewel encrusted 
 goblet has 
 been stolen. 
 The circle 
 of himself 
 in the nest 
 of his gold 
 has been 
 broken. No 
 loss is token.