rea; I didn't mean to kill this thread with my previous post, but it's hard to tell what you and your friend are looking for. If you want short poems which express emotionally intense feelings in a concise few lines, Emily Dickinson might answer your search.
Carl Sandburg's poetry often seems to demand reading with a blues or jazz rhythm.
On the other hand if you are looking for poems expressing misery because your man has just mistreated you, your mojo won't work no more, you ain't got a dime or a friend in the world, and the hellhound is on your trail.....etc etc you get the idea.