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! Planet Earth P.K. Page sings the praises of planet earth through extended metaphor and delightful constraint. An Innocent Little Girl • Favzieh Rahgozar Barlas captures a snapshot of child marriage, its cultural and economic context, and its physical and emotional aftermath. 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. Fear of Snakes The life of a snake and the memory of girlhood trauma are told in sinuously entwined language. the ghosts of women once girls Poet Aja Monet reveals both gladness and sadness from a little girl enraptured by literature. 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. from “Road Shoulders” the shoulder of the road gleams with the poet's attention people arrived Tracing and traveling with Kaie Kellough’s verse, the people in this poem plead to have their pulses read out loud. Vancouver Lights This wartime poem looks out at Vancouver’s nighttime skyline and contemplates humanity. a good day The poet recalls the day she heard her father would die. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. 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. The New Experience Join the speaker on a whirlwind journey towards a surprising realization. In Flanders Fields The dead summon us to action in this much-beloved poem of war. My Brother at 3 A.M. A pervasive sense of paranoia threads itself through the quiet night of this poem. Homage to the Mineral of the Onion (I) Could a vegetable be the antidote to war? This poem thinks so. Picking Up a Dandelion A short and poignant poem, stretching out a brief moment of beauty. What Is Poetry Using only the letters in the title’s question, Holbrook generates a smorgasbord of weird and delightful answers. Not the Music In Not in the Music, Crozier explores the inviolable: the sacred parts of ourselves that we cherish as personal sanctuaries. Dulce et Decorum Est Wilfred Owen brilliantly uses rhyme and meter in this brutal poem about a poison gas attack during WWI. Cold Solace Even after many months in the freezer, a honey cake calls up strong memories. 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.” susiya Music binds and refreshes community “Breathe dust…” Nearly punctuation-free, this is a breathless journey through memories of a youth spent in rural Canada. 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. 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… Money A museum coin collection prompts a reflection on the captivating nature of currency. 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. Northern Light A poem about belonging when one doesn't feel like they are completely at home Community Garden Seeking to escape internet trolls the speaker turns her eye to the garden i am graffiti This poem vibrates with anger and defiance in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 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. Beat! Beat! Drums! With rich bombastic language and Whitman's trademark sprawling lines, this poem rallies troops for war. Opus 75, Sestina in B-flat for the Glockenspiel A silent glockenspiel plays out a teenage girl’s anxieties about growing up and fitting in. 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. 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 I Am The speaker longs to escape himself and to find freedom from within and without 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. How Not to Spill Do you hold your hands shut, or do you let everything spill out? Pagination « First First page ‹ Previous Previous page 1 2 3 4 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English