ann y.k. choi
Toronto-based author and educator
Today’s Sonnet
Posted on January 2, 2014
I had no idea that the sonnet was alive and thriving today. In some cases, the traditional form has been reinvented so much that the only identifiable factor is the sonnet’s fourteen-line length.
For class, I need to write two sonnets this week – a traditional one and a contemporary one. I’m not sure which one will be easier to pen.
Examples of contemporary sonnets:
“The Heart’s Location” by Peter Meinke (scroll down the page to the poem)
W.H. Auden wrote one of the first sonnets not to follow a rhyming scheme:
“The Secret Agent” by W.H. Auden, 1928
An entertaining sonnet that follows the traditional form:
“Death of a Sonnet writer” by Scott Ennis
One of my favourite sonnets:
“Holy Sonnet XIV” by John Donne, 1609
What is a sonnet?
A great print resource for poets:
Wendy Bishop provides advice for writing and revising sonnets and sonnet-like poems in her book entitled Thirteen Ways of Looking for a Poem: A Guide to Writing Poetry.
April Poems
Posted on April 4, 2013
April flowers bring…
Emily Dickinson said, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
Organized and sponsored by the League of Canadian Poets, Canada has acknowledged April as National Poetry Month since 1999. The United States introduced the idea in 1996. Great Britain celebrates October as their National Poetry Month.
Sometimes I struggle through a poem, lost in the words or its meaning. I love the freedom that comes with reading them. There are no right or wrong answers – there shouldn’t be. You can read a poem, and it is yours to interpret; yours to personalize. I love how some poems make me feel. Like music, they can provoke me to tears, to laughter. Or they can leave me thinking, reflecting. Sometimes, they even leave me confused and dazed.
A few of my favourites:
The Cross of Snow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A haunting poem. Longfellow’s wife burned so badly when her dress caught on fire, she died shortly afterwards.
i carry your heart with me by e.e. cummings
One of the best love poems ever.
I Am in Need of Music by Elizabeth Bishop
A classic.
And in honour of both National Poetry Month and the month of April:
Always Marry An April Girl by Ogden Nash
My favourite Canadian poets include: Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood and Catherine Graham.
More on National Poetry Month:
“toenails twinkle”
Posted on November 18, 2012
Dylan Thomas
I was riding the subway when a group of teenagers were reading and talking about the poem wedged between two ads. For over ten years, Poetry on the Way, has been placing short poems on TTC subways, cars, and streetcars in Toronto.
“Poetry is what gets lost in translation,” said one of the kids quoting, Dylan Thomas. I was most impressed!
Ever since I first read, “Do not go gentle into that good night” in high school, I’ve admired Thomas’ poetry.
Here are a few thoughts on poetry by Thomas worth passing along:
“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
“Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing.”
ann y.k. choi 