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! Sweet Like a Crow This tumbling, outrageous list poem is a backhanded ode to a child’s less-than-melodious singing voice. 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. Dear Updike Evelyn Lau powerfully describes the world around her in order to grieve the loss of a beloved writer. Laurentian Shield This portrait of a rocky, silent Canadian landscape speaks to the country’s limitations and its potential. The Blue Guitar In this glosa poem, P.K. Page strums out questions about being an artist and telling the truth. people arrived Tracing and traveling with Kaie Kellough’s verse, the people in this poem plead to have their pulses read out loud. What Is Poetry Using only the letters in the title’s question, Holbrook generates a smorgasbord of weird and delightful answers. 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. How Not to Spill Do you hold your hands shut, or do you let everything spill out? 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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 ghosts of women once girls Poet Aja Monet reveals both gladness and sadness from a little girl enraptured by literature. Sonoma A dreamlike sense of the uncanny hangs over this poem of an encounter on a coastal highway. I Feel the Sun This poem articulates the poet’s intense feeling about the sunlight after going through a long winter. 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. Two Words: A Wedding bpNichol presents life as a river of ever-changing words and asks us to step in. Tide Both stark and tender, this poem is about Reena Virk, a BC teen of South Asian descent who was assaulted and murdered by her peers in 1997. Five Postcards from Jericho Postcards to regret, to time, to anyone at all Passing into Storm Through an objective lens, this poem, which could be a trailer for a horror movie, describes a white man deliberately walking into a snow storm. To what end? I’ll Teach You Cree By sharing with us the untranslatable aspects of Cree culture, Scofield immerses the reader with the sensorial experiences that deepen the bonds of community. 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.” From One and Half of You Trying on traditional clothing and finding how it fits. Or not. 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. In Flanders Fields The dead summon us to action in this much-beloved poem of war. Two Words: A Wedding bpNichol presents life as a river of ever-changing words and asks us to step in. Top The poet remembers a father lost long before his death. 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. 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? Planet Earth P.K. Page sings the praises of planet earth through extended metaphor and delightful constraint. 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? Beat! Beat! Drums! With rich bombastic language and Whitman's trademark sprawling lines, this poem rallies troops for war. For My Best Friend One way to grieve is to give tribute, perhaps even before the person you are grieving is completely gone. 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. 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