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! 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. I Have Not Lingered in European Monasteries By telling us what he hasn’t done, this poem’s speaker reveals his spiritual ambitions. 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. Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong In this tender poem of healing, care and remembrance, Ocean Vuong reaches out to his younger self. Sometimes a Voice (1) On a hot summer afternoon, Danny jumped off the boathouse roof without thinking of the consequences. 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. Late Prayer Erin Robinsong delivers a quiet and fierce prayer for life on Earth in an age of ecological destruction and oligarchical domination Sonoma A dreamlike sense of the uncanny hangs over this poem of an encounter on a coastal highway. The Bow What flows through a name, and a name, and a name? These Poems, She Said Can an argument be the foundation of a love poem? Robert Bringhurst certainly thinks so! The Dead This sonnet considers the fragmented, elusive way the dead resurface in our lives. From thirsty In this delicate and brutal poem, the line between the speaker’s body and the city of Toronto blurs. 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. 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. My Poem Without Me in It Imagining herself removed from her own poem, a poet realizes how poetry gives her the space to create herself. 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 A Breakfast for Barbarians Come sit at this mythical table where guests eat the world’s mysteries for breakfast. The New Experience Join the speaker on a whirlwind journey towards a surprising realization. I Lost My Talk How can you speak your deepest truth in a language that doesn’t understand you? An Innocent Little Girl • Favzieh Rahgozar Barlas captures a snapshot of child marriage, its cultural and economic context, and its physical and emotional aftermath. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. Sweet Like a Crow This tumbling, outrageous list poem is a backhanded ode to a child’s less-than-melodious singing voice. 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? The Tyger In the woods at night, the speaker talks to a magical animal… sturgeon Intense with empathy, the poem places poet and struggling fish in direct physical relation. From Correspondences Anne Michaels challenges us to find new maps to think about old experiences. 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.” 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. Guanahani, 11 This bracing ballad (re)considers the beauty and history of the Caribbean island where Christopher Columbus first landed. fluorine Rita Wong uncovers the poisons in everyday life to teach us about our relationship to the natural world. Jesse's Farm Sadiqa de Meijer reckons with environmental degradation and motherhood in this poem that asks whether showing our children “the beloved world” is enough. Mantra of No Return It is possible to travel home when one has never been there. This poem does. 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. Chemo Side Effects: Memory The stop-start, grasping form of this poem mirrors the speaker's struggle to reconcile herself with one of the side effects of cancer treatment. 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. Two Hours on the Train In this deceptively simple poem, a poet on a journey transcends time. Buen Esqueleto With its allusions and repetitions, “Buen Esqueleto” speaks powerfully on behalf of families caught in the contemporary U.S. border conflict. The Bull Moose A moose's final, tortured moments unfold in a series of brutal images. Two Words: A Wedding bpNichol presents life as a river of ever-changing words and asks us to step in. Language English