Daniel Henderson (1880-1955)In certain parts of Great Britain, where families commonly kept beehives, people believed the first thing you should do when a relative dies is to tell the bees. BEES, go tell the things he treasured — Oak and grass and violet — That although his life was measured He…

Jalalud’din Rumi (!3th Century), translated by Kulliyat-e Shams, from Rumi’s Divan of Shems of Tabriz: Selected Odes (Element Classics of World Spirituality). (England: Dorset Books, 1997) A moment of happiness, you and I sitting on the verandah, apparently two, but one in soul, you and I….

Jane Hirshfield (1953- ), from Of Gravity and Angels (Middleton, CT: Weslyan University Press, 1988).A woman tells me the story of a small wild bird beautiful on her window sill, dead three days. How her daughter came suddenly running, “It’s moving, Mommy, he’s alive.” And when she went, it was….

Samih Al-Qasim (1939- ), translated by Abdullah al-UdhariFrom the window of my small cell I can see trees smiling at me, Roofs filled with my people, Windows weeping and praying for me. From the window of my small cell I can see your large cell.

Please complete the evaluation form and return it to a workshop leader. My favorite part of Exploring Our Values through Poetry was … My least favorite part of Exploring Our Values through Poetry was … I wish we had more time to … Something that would have made this program better is ……

Billy Collins, “Introduction to Poetry” from The Apple That Astonished Paris. Copyright 1988, 1996 by Billy Collins. Used by permission of the University of Arkansas Press, www.uapress.com.I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I…

I have raged for thousands of years. I was on the other tree in Eden and I escaped Greece unexploited by the Gods. I never was fruit of fantasy for seers and bards, nor the food of tales for old wives. For I am not so red, not so self-contained, no so easily held or thrown. Never have poets said…

Shu Ting (1952- ), translated by Carolyn Kizer, from Carrying Over: Poems from the Chinese, Urdu, Macedonian, Yiddish, and French African. Copyright 1988 by Carolyn Kizer. Used by permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.Perhaps…

During the final workshop of this program, your leaders will ask you to reflect on your Poetry Slam experience. This handout will get your thinking started about what you might write at that time; you do not need to do the assignment until then….

When you get to the top of the mountain Pull the next one up. Then there’ll be two of you Roped together at the waist Tired and proud, knowing the mountain, Knowing the human force it took To bring both of you there. And when the second one has finished taking in the view, Satisfied by the heat…

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)This is an excerpt from the poem “Ancient Sage” Thou canst not prove the Nameless, O my son, Nor canst thou prove the world thou movest in, Thou canst not prove that thou art body alone, Nor canst thou prove that thou art spirit alone, Nor canst thou prove that th…

From The Complete Poems (New York: Penguin Books, 2003). Grey haunted eyes, absent-mindedly glaring From wide, uneven orbits; one brow drooping Somewhat over the eye Because of a missile fragment still inhering, Skin deep, as a foolish record of old-world fighting. Crookedly broken nose — low…

from The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran (1883-1931)Beauty XXV But the restless say, “We have heard her shouting among the mountains, And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions.” At night the watchmen of the city say, “Beauty shall rise with the…

Other than a chickadee which I bought from a pick-up truck vendor many, many years ago I had never purchased a live animal Today I went to Chinatown and parked on the south end of Grant I walked down the street combing the poultry shops for a live duck Most of the old markets had been shut down…

Leonard Nathan, “Bladder Song” from The Day the Perfect Speakers Left (C)1969 by Leonard Nathan and reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.On a piece of toilet paper Afloat in the unflushed piss, The fully printed lips of a woman. Nathan, cheer up! The sewer Sends you a big red kiss.

This poem is written in dialect. I will bring you a whole person and you will bring me a whole person and we will have us twice as much of love and everything I be bringing a whole heart and while it do have nicks and dents and scars, that only make me lay it down more careful-like An’ you be…

by Patrice Vecchione, from Faith and Doubt (New York: Henry Holt, 2007)Just what can be found with eyes open? $10,000 in coins, anyway. Enough to fill a few five-gallon jugs….

Al Zolynas (1945- ), from Kowit, Steve, ed., The Maverick Poets: An Anthology (Santee, CA: Gorilla Press, 1988).Afternoon. Across the garden, in Green Hall, someone begins playing the old piano— a spontaneous piece, amateurish and alive, full of a simple, joyful melody. The music floats among us…

Anna Swir, “The Same Inside,” translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan, from Talking to My Body. English translation copyright © 1996 by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan….

Welcome to your butterfly garden! The garden needs you to take care of it. Here are a few easy ways to care for your garden: Because many plants are poisonous, never taste or eat any plant part. Do not walk among the plants or step on plants. A broken branch wounds the plant….

My dear, my dear, I know More than another What makes your heart beat so; Not even your own mother Can know it as I know, Who broke my heart for her When the wild thought, That she denies And has forgot, Set all her blood astir And glittered in her eyes. From The Wild Swans at Cooley (1919).

Excerpted from Chattanooga by Ishmael Reed (New York: Random House, 1973). Permission granted by Lowenstein Associates, Inc.If I had a nickel For all the women who’ve Rejected me in my life I would be the head of the World Bank with a flunkie To hold my derby as i Prepared to fly chartered Jet to…

“Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person Could Believe in the War Between Races” is from Emplumada, by Lorna Dee Cervantes, copyright 1982. All rights are controlled by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Used by permission of the…

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME. Words and Music by SAM COOKE. Copyright 1964 (Renewed) ABKCO MUSIC, INC. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission of ALFRED PUBLISHING CO., INC.These are the lyrics to a song you will hear….