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! Community Garden Seeking to escape internet trolls the speaker turns her eye to the garden 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. Dinosaur Economics In this poem, playful romanticization meets a stark awakening I’ve Tasted My Blood In this thunderous poem, the speaker proclaims his rage, anguish, and hope in the face of war and oppression. Five Postcards from Jericho Postcards to regret, to time, to anyone at all 400: Coming Home You can’t help thinking about your life on a long stretch of highway. 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? Reluctance Even after you’ve jumped all the fences, climbed all the hills, and looked at the world, it can be hard to accept how you feel… Two Words: A Wedding bpNichol presents life as a river of ever-changing words and asks us to step in. Other In Other, Livesay breaks free of patriarchy’s hold and ventures into landscapes of mountain, cedar forests, night skies, and the fierce interior of her spirit. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. In Flanders Fields The dead summon us to action in this much-beloved poem of war. 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.” I Feel the Sun This poem articulates the poet’s intense feeling about the sunlight after going through a long winter. 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. people arrived Tracing and traveling with Kaie Kellough’s verse, the people in this poem plead to have their pulses read out loud. The Tyger In the woods at night, the speaker talks to a magical animal… Salmon Courage Deep bravery can emerge amid clashing familial hopes and truths. M. NourbeSe Philip shows us how. 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. We Wear the Mask We Wear the Mask is a resilient and entrancing tug-of-war with external perceptions of self. Low Tide on Grand Pré The setting sun gives rise to a treasured memory of Grand Pré in this somber, rhythmic poem. 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. 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. 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. 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. sturgeon Intense with empathy, the poem places poet and struggling fish in direct physical relation. Sometimes a Voice (1) On a hot summer afternoon, Danny jumped off the boathouse roof without thinking of the consequences. Top The poet remembers a father lost long before his death. La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad What would you ask a knight if you found him alone and palely loitering along a barren path? 400: Coming Home You can’t help thinking about your life on a long stretch of highway. 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.” 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. My Papa’s Waltz The poet writes a complex poem about his relationship with his father. From Red Doc In this poem-as-a-conversation, a man and his mother consider how the past lives on in the present. the ghosts of women once girls Poet Aja Monet reveals both gladness and sadness from a little girl enraptured by literature. Dear Updike Evelyn Lau powerfully describes the world around her in order to grieve the loss of a beloved writer. I’ve Tasted My Blood In this thunderous poem, the speaker proclaims his rage, anguish, and hope in the face of war and oppression. Qawanguq with Fox Abigail Chabitnoy’s dreamscape of a poem depicts a coy little fox. 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. “Breathe dust…” Nearly punctuation-free, this is a breathless journey through memories of a youth spent in rural Canada. Pagination 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English