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! Dinosaur Economics In this poem, playful romanticization meets a stark awakening the knowing Connie Fife cryptically combines land and body in this poem exploring connection to place and past. Fear of Snakes The life of a snake and the memory of girlhood trauma are told in sinuously entwined language. 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. Application Form Identity is elusive. Maybe it doesn’t exist at all. The Lonely Land In this free verse poem, snapshots of a wild landscape show that beauty and conflict are not mutually exclusive — and that one may be derived from the other. The Powwow at the End of the World Sherman Alexie slams the environmental destruction of settler-colonialism as we travel on an upstream course towards the powwow at the end of the world. The Tyger In the woods at night, the speaker talks to a magical animal… 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 Poem Without Me in It Imagining herself removed from her own poem, a poet realizes how poetry gives her the space to create herself. 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. One Art When loss feels inevitable, sometimes the only thing to do is write it down… Homage to the Mineral of the Onion (I) Could a vegetable be the antidote to war? This poem thinks so. Mantra of No Return It is possible to travel home when one has never been there. This poem does. Regardless This vibrant list poem celebrates the right to just Be. Picking Up a Dandelion A short and poignant poem, stretching out a brief moment of beauty. I Have Something to Tell You In this surreal poem, a man made of cameras brings his unexpected concerns into sharper focus. Guanahani, 11 This bracing ballad (re)considers the beauty and history of the Caribbean island where Christopher Columbus first landed. Weed Killer Fiona Tinwei Lam moves from personal to universal and back to the personal in this chilling poem about the ecological destruction bequeathed from one generation to the next. An Innocent Little Girl • Favzieh Rahgozar Barlas captures a snapshot of child marriage, its cultural and economic context, and its physical and emotional aftermath. We Wear the Mask We Wear the Mask is a resilient and entrancing tug-of-war with external perceptions of self. Salmon Courage Deep bravery can emerge amid clashing familial hopes and truths. M. NourbeSe Philip shows us how. A Stone Diary A love poem to a stone takes on deeper, rockier meanings. 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. the ghosts of women once girls Poet Aja Monet reveals both gladness and sadness from a little girl enraptured by literature. 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 Beat! Beat! Drums! With rich bombastic language and Whitman's trademark sprawling lines, this poem rallies troops for war. Dear Updike Evelyn Lau powerfully describes the world around her in order to grieve the loss of a beloved writer. These Poems, She Said Can an argument be the foundation of a love poem? Robert Bringhurst certainly thinks so! The Days of the Unicorns Phyllis Webb beautifully writes an ode to the majestic unicorn. Two Words: A Wedding bpNichol presents life as a river of ever-changing words and asks us to step in. 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. I’ve Tasted My Blood In this thunderous poem, the speaker proclaims his rage, anguish, and hope in the face of war and oppression. i am graffiti This poem vibrates with anger and defiance in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 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. My Brother at 3 A.M. A pervasive sense of paranoia threads itself through the quiet night of this poem. World Town Layers of memory paint a moving, vibrant portrait of one man’s time spent in a seaside town with his father. How Not to Spill Do you hold your hands shut, or do you let everything spill out? From One and Half of You Trying on traditional clothing and finding how it fits. Or not. 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. Pagination « First First page ‹ Previous Previous page 1 2 3 4 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English