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! 400: Coming Home You can’t help thinking about your life on a long stretch of highway. 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. 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. I Am The speaker longs to escape himself and to find freedom from within and without Beat! Beat! Drums! With rich bombastic language and Whitman's trademark sprawling lines, this poem rallies troops for war. 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. Planet Earth P.K. Page sings the praises of planet earth through extended metaphor and delightful constraint. 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. 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. I Feel the Sun This poem articulates the poet’s intense feeling about the sunlight after going through a long winter. 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… Fear of Snakes The life of a snake and the memory of girlhood trauma are told in sinuously entwined language. Marshlands Quietly pause to take in the colours and sounds of a marsh. Homage to the Mineral of the Onion (I) Could a vegetable be the antidote to war? This poem thinks so. The Potato Harvest This lonely poem is about so much more than a bare field. 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. sturgeon Intense with empathy, the poem places poet and struggling fish in direct physical relation. Not the Music In Not in the Music, Crozier explores the inviolable: the sacred parts of ourselves that we cherish as personal sanctuaries. Qawanguq with Fox Abigail Chabitnoy’s dreamscape of a poem depicts a coy little fox. the knowing Connie Fife cryptically combines land and body in this poem exploring connection to place and past. These Poems, She Said Can an argument be the foundation of a love poem? Robert Bringhurst certainly thinks so! Northern Light A poem about belonging when one doesn't feel like they are completely at home The Visions of Stone Carrier In this dreamlike piece exploring memory and primogeniture, N. Scott Momaday casts a haunting spell that transports the reader through mystery and reminiscence. The Bow What flows through a name, and a name, and a name? 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. From Red Doc In this poem-as-a-conversation, a man and his mother consider how the past lives on in the present. Top The poet remembers a father lost long before his death. 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.” Un Docteur Anglophone Traduit Les Inquiétudes De Son Patient Avec Google/An English Speaking Doctor Translates the Concerns of his Patient with Google This bilingual poem expresses the limitations of understanding across languages when experiences become lost in translation. Before the Birth of One of Her Children This frank, devout poem confronts the risks facing a 17th-century woman in childbirth. 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. Low Tide on Grand Pré The setting sun gives rise to a treasured memory of Grand Pré in this somber, rhythmic poem. Five Postcards from Jericho Postcards to regret, to time, to anyone at all Cold Solace Even after many months in the freezer, a honey cake calls up strong memories. Dinosaur Economics In this poem, playful romanticization meets a stark awakening Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong In this tender poem of healing, care and remembrance, Ocean Vuong reaches out to his younger self. 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. from Cross River . Pick Lotus Sometimes a simple wish granted, especially a final one, can change everything. Community Garden Seeking to escape internet trolls the speaker turns her eye to the garden Mantra of No Return It is possible to travel home when one has never been there. This poem does. Pagination « First First page ‹ Previous Previous page 1 2 3 4 Next › Next page Last » Last page Language English