poem-a-day
Bring Back Our Girls
Bring Back Our Girls
1. It bejins in Berlin
A Historical Case
Study
In Disappearance + Cultural Theft:
Exhibit YZ:
Brinj back to me Nefertiti
Her
Bust
Take her
From behind
the vitrine
For I know where to find her missinj eye
Then put a woman in charje of all antiquities.
She-law: just because somethinj is beautiful
doesnt mean it was meant to be consumed; just because there are
tourists doesnt make it an attraction.
2. everywhere anytxme atm her
vxolatxon: guaranteed. sxlence bought or your settlement
money back. objectxfactxon xn the mxrror xs closer than xt appears.
please mxnd the wage gap. cautxon: not chxld resxstant to open hold
down and turn away squee geez use daxly, mornxng, and nxght
supported by an aroma of certified organxc heavens:
for every gxrl who grows
xnto a woman
who knows
the best threat’s:
one she never
has to make
she sublxmates your sublxmxnal
even your affectxon has been xnfected
3. this poem cant go on without hex i mean
hex
heeee x
hex
hex and hex
hex hej heq hez hex
she was stolen bought sold lost put undex buxied alive at bixth she was dxagged in blue bxa duxing a xevolution with vixginity tests she waits then she doesnt she sh sh sh shh she left you she the best thing that happened to you then she lilililililiiii she intifada she moves with two kinds of gxace she ups the ante aging by candid defiant elegance she foxgets but nevex foxgives
She-language complex
she complex she so complex she complex got complex complex
4. she spends her time anxious because she knows she is better than
you rang to say she died from being tired of your everything she knows she is fiyne; gorgeous but she hates it when she infuriates and when she jigs and is kind she minds her own business except when she is new and nervous though she is origin previous and impervious she wont stay quiet she is razor sharp and super tired she undarks, vets, wanes, and xeroxes; yaks and zzzzs the day she dreams
5. Me tooa B Me toob Me tooc R Me tood Me tooe I Me toof N Me toog G
Me tooh them
Me tooi B Me tooj A Me took C Me tool K Mem too Men too Me tooo
Meep
too Meq too
Mer too Me too Me too Meu too Mev too Mew too Mex too Mey too Mez too
Me ((too)) Me ((((((((((((too))))))))))))
Copyright © 2018 by Marwa Helal. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on January 30, 2018, by the Academy of American Poets.
Copyright © 2018 by Marwa Helal. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on January 30, 2018, by the Academy of American Poets.
Kaveh Akbar
Poetic Forms
Refresh and expand your poetic vocabulary with this collection of poetic forms, complete with historical contexts, examples, and more. For more on poetic forms, browse our selection of terms from Edward Hirsch’s A Poet’s Glossary or check out our quick teaching guide on essential poetic terms.
Good Bones
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
Classic Books of American Poetry
This collection of books showcases the masterpieces of American poetry that have influenced—or promise to influence—generations of poets. Take a look.
Emily Dickinson
January
Again I reply to the triple winds
running chromatic fifths of derision
outside my window:
Play louder.
You will not succeed. I am
bound more to my sentences
the more you batter at me
to follow you.
And the wind,
as before, fingers perfectly
its derisive music.
Gwendolyn Brooks: A Centennial Celebration
A Pulitzer Prize winner, an Academy Fellowship winner, and the first black woman appointed as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress, Gwendolyn Brooks was—and continues to be—an outstanding voice in the world of contemporary American poetry. Brooks, who was awarded countless literary honors in her lifetime, was known for writing poems that captured a cross-section of everyday life in her hometown of Chicago. In sonnets, ballads, epic poems, and more, Brooks captured the lives, speech, and perspectives of people as varied as those she encountered in her city, and was particularly known for her interrogation of race relations and class.
This year marks Brooks’s centennial, and to celebrate, we’ve created this new collection of essays, audio, and poems by and about Brooks.
Frank Bidart
A Poet's Glossary
Read about poetic terms and forms from Edward Hirsch's A Poet's Glossary (Harcourt, 2014), a book ten years in the making that defines the art form of poetry.
Jenny Xie
Robert Frost
