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! 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. World Town Layers of memory paint a moving, vibrant portrait of one man’s time spent in a seaside town with his father. 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. Five Postcards from Jericho Postcards to regret, to time, to anyone at all 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. The New Experience Join the speaker on a whirlwind journey towards a surprising realization. My Brother at 3 A.M. A pervasive sense of paranoia threads itself through the quiet night of this poem. Plenty Who would have thought a trip to the grocery store could be so full of beauty? Northern Light A poem about belonging when one doesn't feel like they are completely at home Sometimes a Voice (1) On a hot summer afternoon, Danny jumped off the boathouse roof without thinking of the consequences. The Blue Guitar In this glosa poem, P.K. Page strums out questions about being an artist and telling the truth. 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. 400: Coming Home You can’t help thinking about your life on a long stretch of highway. the ghosts of women once girls Poet Aja Monet reveals both gladness and sadness from a little girl enraptured by literature. Blank Sonnet Set in Halifax of the 1930s, this sensual, inebriated love poem plays with the sonnet form. These Poems, She Said Can an argument be the foundation of a love poem? Robert Bringhurst certainly thinks so! Letters In this tender poem tracing a lost love, the speaker holds on by letting things go… Beat! Beat! Drums! With rich bombastic language and Whitman's trademark sprawling lines, this poem rallies troops for war. i am graffiti This poem vibrates with anger and defiance in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “Breathe dust…” Nearly punctuation-free, this is a breathless journey through memories of a youth spent in rural Canada. Application Form Identity is elusive. Maybe it doesn’t exist at all. Good Day Villanelle Is this a painful poem about a funny memory, or a funny poem about a painful memory? Salmon Courage Deep bravery can emerge amid clashing familial hopes and truths. M. NourbeSe Philip shows us how. 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. Guanahani, 11 This bracing ballad (re)considers the beauty and history of the Caribbean island where Christopher Columbus first landed. Money A museum coin collection prompts a reflection on the captivating nature of currency. Laurentian Shield This portrait of a rocky, silent Canadian landscape speaks to the country’s limitations and its potential. What Is Poetry Using only the letters in the title’s question, Holbrook generates a smorgasbord of weird and delightful answers. Poor Speaker Yep, the speaker gets what you're trying to say I Have Something to Tell You In this surreal poem, a man made of cameras brings his unexpected concerns into sharper focus. Low Tide on Grand Pré The setting sun gives rise to a treasured memory of Grand Pré in this somber, rhythmic poem. Dulce et Decorum Est Wilfred Owen brilliantly uses rhyme and meter in this brutal poem about a poison gas attack during WWI. 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… Not the Music In Not in the Music, Crozier explores the inviolable: the sacred parts of ourselves that we cherish as personal sanctuaries. 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. from Exhibits from the American Water Museum Natalie Diaz mourns the violence committed against the Mojave people (and by extension, Indigenous people across North America) and bodies of water, inextricably connected Late Prayer Erin Robinsong delivers a quiet and fierce prayer for life on Earth in an age of ecological destruction and oligarchical domination I Feel the Sun This poem articulates the poet’s intense feeling about the sunlight after going through a long winter. Gayatri A selfie with no one in it surprisingly captures the magic of a childhood friendship. Language English