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! The Trick The body and the mind are intimately linked and cannot be divorced from each other. 400: Coming Home You can’t help thinking about your life on a long stretch of highway. These Poems, She Said Can an argument be the foundation of a love poem? Robert Bringhurst certainly thinks so! Not the Music In Not in the Music, Crozier explores the inviolable: the sacred parts of ourselves that we cherish as personal sanctuaries. 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. Plenty Who would have thought a trip to the grocery store could be so full of beauty? Regardless This vibrant list poem celebrates the right to just Be. 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. Money A museum coin collection prompts a reflection on the captivating nature of currency. Community Garden Seeking to escape internet trolls the speaker turns her eye to the garden 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. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. Northern Light A poem about belonging when one doesn't feel like they are completely at home Poor Speaker Yep, the speaker gets what you're trying to say A Stone Diary A love poem to a stone takes on deeper, rockier meanings. 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. 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. From Red Doc In this poem-as-a-conversation, a man and his mother consider how the past lives on in the present. From thirsty In this delicate and brutal poem, the line between the speaker’s body and the city of Toronto blurs. Modestine A woman writes a tender poem about her dad’s struggle with dementia. The Tyger In the woods at night, the speaker talks to a magical animal… from Cross River . Pick Lotus Sometimes a simple wish granted, especially a final one, can change everything. The New Experience Join the speaker on a whirlwind journey towards a surprising realization. Letters In this tender poem tracing a lost love, the speaker holds on by letting things go… 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. Salmon Courage Deep bravery can emerge amid clashing familial hopes and truths. M. NourbeSe Philip shows us how. From One and Half of You Trying on traditional clothing and finding how it fits. Or not. 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. Gayatri A selfie with no one in it surprisingly captures the magic of a childhood friendship. I've Tasted My Blood In this thunderous poem, the speaker proclaims his rage, anguish, and hope in the face of war and oppression. We Wear the Mask We Wear the Mask is a resilient and entrancing tug-of-war with external perceptions of self. The Dead This sonnet considers the fragmented, elusive way the dead resurface in our lives. Where There’s a Wall Both beauty and violence are just on the other side of the wall. Sometimes a Voice (1) On a hot summer afternoon, Danny jumped off the boathouse roof without thinking of the consequences. Editing the Prairie If the prairie was a written story, imagine the rejection letter it might get! from “Road Shoulders” the shoulder of the road gleams with the poet's attention 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. Full Metal Oji-Cree That’s ok, our robomocassins will outlive you nine times over. 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. Language English