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! I saw a perfect tree today Lillian Allen praises the rampant diversity of trees in Northern Ontario and asks us to see perfection in difference. fluorine Rita Wong uncovers the poisons in everyday life to teach us about our relationship to the natural world. 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. The Trick The body and the mind are intimately linked and cannot be divorced from each other. Editing the Prairie If the prairie was a written story, imagine the rejection letter it might get! a good day The poet recalls the day she heard her father would die. The Swimmer’s Moment Will you choose to observe from the rim of the whirlpool, or its centre? 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. grass In his short, funny poem, Ward Maxwell asks us to step on the grass, saying “it deserves it.” But isn’t that the point of grass? Sonoma A dreamlike sense of the uncanny hangs over this poem of an encounter on a coastal highway. Regardless This vibrant list poem celebrates the right to just Be. Late Prayer Erin Robinsong delivers a quiet and fierce prayer for life on Earth in an age of ecological destruction and oligarchical domination Planet Earth P.K. Page sings the praises of planet earth through extended metaphor and delightful constraint. Marshlands Quietly pause to take in the colours and sounds of a marsh. An English Speaking Doctor Translates the Concerns of his Patient with Google/Un Docteur Anglophone Traduit Les Inquiétudes De Son Patient Avec Google This bilingual poem expresses the limitations of understanding across languages when experiences become lost in translation. Two Hours on the Train In this deceptively simple poem, a poet on a journey transcends time. I’ll Teach You Cree By sharing with us the untranslatable aspects of Cree culture, Scofield immerses the reader with the sensorial experiences that deepen the bonds of community. Salmon Courage Deep bravery can emerge amid clashing familial hopes and truths. M. NourbeSe Philip shows us how. 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 ghosts of women once girls Poet Aja Monet reveals both gladness and sadness from a little girl enraptured by literature. The New Experience Join the speaker on a whirlwind journey towards a surprising realization. But I’m No One But I’m No one is a reflection on our tendency to fear death and the manifestation of this fear through uncanny beliefs. Dinosaur Economics In this poem, playful romanticization meets a stark awakening Five Postcards from Jericho Postcards to regret, to time, to anyone at all The Potato Harvest This lonely poem is about so much more than a bare field. Community Garden Seeking to escape internet trolls the speaker turns her eye to the garden The Bull Moose A moose's final, tortured moments unfold in a series of brutal images. From Correspondences Anne Michaels challenges us to find new maps to think about old experiences. 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.” The Bow What flows through a name, and a name, and a name? 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. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. Not the Music In Not in the Music, Crozier explores the inviolable: the sacred parts of ourselves that we cherish as personal sanctuaries. I Have Something to Tell You In this surreal poem, a man made of cameras brings his unexpected concerns into sharper focus. Modestine A woman writes a tender poem about her dad’s struggle with dementia. I Feel the Sun This poem articulates the poet’s intense feeling about the sunlight after going through a long winter. Fear of Snakes The life of a snake and the memory of girlhood trauma are told in sinuously entwined language. Where There’s a Wall Both beauty and violence are just on the other side of the wall. people arrived Tracing and traveling with Kaie Kellough’s verse, the people in this poem plead to have their pulses read out loud. Pagination 1 2 3 4 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English