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! Editing the Prairie If the prairie was a written story, imagine the rejection letter it might get! Picking Up a Dandelion A short and poignant poem, stretching out a brief moment of beauty. the knowing Connie Fife cryptically combines land and body in this poem exploring connection to place and past. Late Prayer Erin Robinsong delivers a quiet and fierce prayer for life on Earth in an age of ecological destruction and oligarchical domination sturgeon Intense with empathy, the poem places poet and struggling fish in direct physical relation. Two Hours on the Train In this deceptively simple poem, a poet on a journey transcends time. from Exhibits from the American Water Museum Natalie Diaz mourns the violence committed against the Mojave people (and by extension, Indigenous people across North America) and bodies of water, inextricably connected 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. 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. The Problem With Being a Box Too Small for Its Contents Misch expounds the unbearable work needed after a breakup: to separate from your lost love and “rejoin yourselves…even when you don’t want to.” Sonoma A dreamlike sense of the uncanny hangs over this poem of an encounter on a coastal highway. Famous In Famous, Naomi Nye speaks to the relationship between objects and the ideas they represent. She is as famous to the poem as the poem is famous its words. My Papa’s Waltz The poet writes a complex poem about his relationship with his father. My Brother at 3 A.M. A pervasive sense of paranoia threads itself through the quiet night of this poem. niya A physical encounter with a stranger ignites a fire of emotions about how to express the trauma of settlement and life in a colonial, urban environment. fluorine Rita Wong uncovers the poisons in everyday life to teach us about our relationship to the natural world. Echolalia Exploring the tension between desire and satisfaction, this is “a poem that you have to kiss your way through without being kissed,” says Williams. From Red Doc In this poem-as-a-conversation, a man and his mother consider how the past lives on in the present. Buen Esqueleto With its allusions and repetitions, “Buen Esqueleto” speaks powerfully on behalf of families caught in the contemporary U.S. border conflict. Passing into Storm Through an objective lens, this poem, which could be a trailer for a horror movie, describes a white man deliberately walking into a snow storm. To what end? The Days of the Unicorns Phyllis Webb beautifully writes an ode to the majestic unicorn. The Potato Harvest This lonely poem is about so much more than a bare field. Regardless This vibrant list poem celebrates the right to just Be. My sister cries the sea In this poem of environmental apocalypse, Mordecai pictures a divided planet as her sister, listening to the voices of plants and fish as they mourn habitat destruction in creole Application Form Identity is elusive. Maybe it doesn’t exist at all. Planet Earth P.K. Page sings the praises of planet earth through extended metaphor and delightful constraint. Declaration of Intent Rita Wong invokes the "sacred bond" of water in this poem that invites us to learn from watersheds, and to act in their defense. Fear of Snakes The life of a snake and the memory of girlhood trauma are told in sinuously entwined language. Community Garden Seeking to escape internet trolls the speaker turns her eye to the garden Dear Updike Evelyn Lau powerfully describes the world around her in order to grieve the loss of a beloved writer. The Trick The body and the mind are intimately linked and cannot be divorced from each other. A Breakfast for Barbarians Come sit at this mythical table where guests eat the world’s mysteries for breakfast. 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. Journey of the Magi One of the three wise men who travelled to Bethlehem upon the birth of Jesus Christ describes his version of the story and the emotional upheaval he experiences from witnessing a miracle that shatters his previous beliefs and way of life. Insomnia A dark, playful twist on what someone would do if they could only sleep… Death of a Young Son by Drowning Blurring time but clarifying feeling, this poem gives voice to a mother who loses a son and gains a country. Pale Blue Cover In this nostalgic poem, the speaker reminisces about the author Matt Cohen. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. The Tyger In the woods at night, the speaker talks to a magical animal… Common Magic Do you ever wonder how anything gets done when we’re all swirling in our own galaxies of thought and experience? This poem does too. Pagination 1 2 3 4 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English