# ForgeMesh Library – American Poetry Shelf

> ForgeMesh Library – American Poetry Shelf is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.003/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Returns a ranked list of up to 50 public-domain American poetry books with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/american-poetry
- Price: $0.003/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/forgemesh-library-american-poetry-shelf-df089f15
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_TowZHYMnFXufLcGcG47V-

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability forgemesh-library-american-poetry-shelf-df089f15 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you show me the top 20 American poetry books available in the public domain — things like Emily Dickinson, Longfellow, Whitman — so I can pick one to read in full?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you specifically need to browse or list public-domain American poetry books, want a curated ranked shelf rather than full-text search, or need drill-down routes to access complete texts. Prefer it over a general full-text search endpoint when you want discovery and curation rather than passage-level retrieval. Best suited for building reading lists, curriculum planning, or exploring the American poetry canon without needing to know a specific title in advance.

## Known failure modes

- Limit exceeds 50 — API caps results at 50 books
- Limit of 0 or negative integer — may return empty list or error
- Network/service unavailability — HTTP 5xx response
- Payment not processed — x402 payment required error
- Malformed request body — schema validation error

## How this service works

Curated shelf: American poetry — 203 public-domain books including The Home Book of Verse — Volume 2, Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete, Tales of a Wayside Inn. Returns a ranked list with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval. No license, no API key required.

## Output

A ranked list of up to 50 public-domain American poetry books (up to the requested limit), including titles like 'The Home Book of Verse — Volume 2', 'Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete', and 'Tales of a Wayside Inn', along with drill-down routes that can be used to retrieve the full text of each book.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "limit": {
   "type": "integer",
   "description": "Max books to return (default 20, max 50)"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "books": [
   {
    "year": null,
    "title": "The Home Book of Verse — Volume 2",
    "author": "Stevenson, Burton Egbert",
    "book_id": 2620,
    "subjects": [],
    "download_count": 33846
   }
  ],
  "count": 5,
  "shelf": "American poetry",
  "coverage": {
   "target": 61015,
   "indexed": 61015
  },
  "drill_down": [
   "/book-metadata",
   "/book-chapter",
   "/book-quotes",
   "/literature-search"
  ]
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/forgemesh-library-american-poetry-shelf-df089f15/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from library.forgemesh.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/library.forgemesh.io/llms.txt)