These poems each have a set of guided questions, related videos that allow for deeper investigation, and suggested writing activities. We'll be adding more poems here soon! Before the Birth of One of Her Children This frank, devout poem confronts the risks facing a 17th-century woman in childbirth. Dear Updike Evelyn Lau powerfully describes the world around her in order to grieve the loss of a beloved writer. Cold Solace Even after many months in the freezer, a honey cake calls up strong memories. The Visions of Stone Carrier In this dreamlike piece exploring memory and primogeniture, N. Scott Momaday casts a haunting spell that transports the reader through mystery and reminiscence. Beat! Beat! Drums! With rich bombastic language and Whitman's trademark sprawling lines, this poem rallies troops for war. The Days of the Unicorns Phyllis Webb beautifully writes an ode to the majestic unicorn. A Stone Diary A love poem to a stone takes on deeper, rockier meanings. Five Postcards from Jericho Postcards to regret, to time, to anyone at all Too Negative Have your friends’ parents ever warned them away from you because they thought you were a bad influence? “Too Negative” is a poem about that experience. For My Best Friend One way to grieve is to give tribute, perhaps even before the person you are grieving is completely gone. Low Tide on Grand Pré The setting sun gives rise to a treasured memory of Grand Pré in this somber, rhythmic poem. Fast Commute Laurie Graham weathers an incongruous ice storm in this poem-excerpt that asks us to pause and understand that we are present here, “and with this understanding to start to hear.” Fear of Snakes The life of a snake and the memory of girlhood trauma are told in sinuously entwined language. Editing the Prairie If the prairie was a written story, imagine the rejection letter it might get! Tide Both stark and tender, this poem is about Reena Virk, a BC teen of South Asian descent who was assaulted and murdered by her peers in 1997. The Lonely Land In this free verse poem, snapshots of a wild landscape show that beauty and conflict are not mutually exclusive — and that one may be derived from the other. I Feel the Sun This poem articulates the poet’s intense feeling about the sunlight after going through a long winter. dont worry yr hair Having a bad day? This uplifting poem about the power of our inner potential should light a spark. The Bull Moose A moose's final, tortured moments unfold in a series of brutal images. people arrived Tracing and traveling with Kaie Kellough’s verse, the people in this poem plead to have their pulses read out loud. Money A museum coin collection prompts a reflection on the captivating nature of currency. From Red Doc In this poem-as-a-conversation, a man and his mother consider how the past lives on in the present. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. sturgeon Intense with empathy, the poem places poet and struggling fish in direct physical relation. The Blue Guitar In this glosa poem, P.K. Page strums out questions about being an artist and telling the truth. The Fatigue Fatigue is often the first sign something is wrong with one's body. Fatigue looms larger than life in this poem which grapples with meds, family, and coping. Late Prayer Erin Robinsong delivers a quiet and fierce prayer for life on Earth in an age of ecological destruction and oligarchical domination 400: Coming Home You can’t help thinking about your life on a long stretch of highway. from “Road Shoulders” the shoulder of the road gleams with the poet's attention 1992 Sometimes a scent or a site or a taste can sweep you up into the past. This finely honed narrative poem knows what that’s like. World Town Layers of memory paint a moving, vibrant portrait of one man’s time spent in a seaside town with his father. Application Form Identity is elusive. Maybe it doesn’t exist at all. Top The poet remembers a father lost long before his death. Not the Music In Not in the Music, Crozier explores the inviolable: the sacred parts of ourselves that we cherish as personal sanctuaries. Qawanguq with Fox Abigail Chabitnoy’s dreamscape of a poem depicts a coy little fox. Two Words: A Wedding bpNichol presents life as a river of ever-changing words and asks us to step in. April 30, 2014 One spring day, dreading an afternoon appointment that will dredge up all kinds of terrible memories, the speaker of the poem focuses on the natural world around her. The Trick The body and the mind are intimately linked and cannot be divorced from each other. a good day The poet recalls the day she heard her father would die. My Brother at 3 A.M. A pervasive sense of paranoia threads itself through the quiet night of this poem. Pagination 1 2 3 4 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English