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! aubade for the BPD subreddit user who wrote can people with BPD love? The stunningly cruel comments of an internet forum reverberate throughout a sleepless night For My Best Friend One way to grieve is to give tribute, perhaps even before the person you are grieving is completely gone. The Potato Harvest This lonely poem is about so much more than a bare field. 400: Coming Home You can’t help thinking about your life on a long stretch of highway. 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 Last Visit This poem invites you to discover the forms that outrage can take. Before the Birth of One of Her Children This frank, devout poem confronts the risks facing a 17th-century woman in childbirth. The New Experience Join the speaker on a whirlwind journey towards a surprising realization. Childhood For Aracelis Girmay, “Childhood” is a place we can visit in our memories—and perhaps a place that moves on without us. 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. In Flanders Fields The dead summon us to action in this much-beloved poem of war. I’ve Tasted My Blood In this thunderous poem, the speaker proclaims his rage, anguish, and hope in the face of war and oppression. Shots Rang Out on My Street Today The poem protests gun violence across multiple Black communities in Canada against the backdrop of reggae music. In Exile I Draw the Tower Card A poem that explores the loss of taken-for-granted abilities that lead to existential questions about oneself. Salmon Courage Deep bravery can emerge amid clashing familial hopes and truths. M. NourbeSe Philip shows us how. Let the Ponies Out In this poem, a dramatic monologue, the speaker implores their father to do something both real and more real in its imagining. A Stone Diary A love poem to a stone takes on deeper, rockier meanings. Beat! Beat! Drums! With rich bombastic language and Whitman's trademark sprawling lines, this poem rallies troops for war. 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. For My Best Friend One way to grieve is to give tribute, perhaps even before the person you are grieving is completely gone. The ABG (Able-Bodied Gaze) The abled-bodied gaze is an intrusive force in this poem, making a spectacle of a disabled body and attempting to reduce them to their impairment. Application Form Identity is elusive. Maybe it doesn’t exist at all. dont worry yr hair Having a bad day? This uplifting poem about the power of our inner potential should light a spark. a good day The poet recalls the day she heard her father would die. 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.” susiya Music binds and refreshes community 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. Insomnia A dark, playful twist on what someone would do if they could only sleep… Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. Let the Ponies Out In this poem, a dramatic monologue, the speaker implores their father to do something both real and more real in its imagining. An Innocent Little Girl Fevziye Rahgozar Barlas captures a snapshot of child marriage, its cultural and economic context, and its physical and emotional aftermath. I Am The speaker longs to escape himself and to find freedom from within and without A Breakfast for Barbarians Come sit at this mythical table where guests eat the world’s mysteries for breakfast. My Brother at 3 A.M. A pervasive sense of paranoia threads itself through the quiet night of this poem. the ghosts of women once girls Poet Aja Monet reveals both gladness and sadness from a little girl enraptured by literature. 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 Trick The body and the mind are intimately linked and cannot be divorced from each other. Homage to the Mineral of the Onion (I) Could a vegetable be the antidote to war? This poem thinks so. Before the Birth of One of Her Children This frank, devout poem confronts the risks facing a 17th-century woman in childbirth. Plenty Who would have thought a trip to the grocery store could be so full of beauty? Pagination 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English