On this page, you will find links to poems that are online, related videos, and essays we will be reading. This page will be updated throughout the semester, with the most recent readings at the top of the post:

Spoken Word poems: links to videos and texts

December 3rd: Franny Choi

Franny Choi performing “Choi Jeong Min”

text of Franny Choi’s  “Choi Jeong Min”– https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/58784/choi-jeong-min

Franny Choi performing “Sweat”

text of Franny Choi’s “Sweat”: http://ithacalit.com/franny-choi.html

Franny Choi performing  “Field Trip to the Museum of Human History”

video and text of “Field Trip”– http://www.pbs.org/newshour/poetry/poet-franny-choi-pictures-a-world-without-police/

December 12: Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo performing “Hair”

text of “Hair”: http://afrodiaspores.tumblr.com/post/106802513979/my-mother-tells-me-to-fix-my-hair-and-by-fix

December 5th and December 10th:

Here’s the link to the documentary we’re watching, Louder Than a Bomb

 

Poems for November 21: Julia Alvarez

 “All American Girl”

“Folding My Clothes”

Context for November 19: Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”

Andrew Grace’s “Not a Mile” (handout) refers to Sylvia Plath’s 1962 poem “Lady Lazarus.” You can read “Lady Lazarus” here.  In class,we’ll talk about how how Grace makes connections to “Lady Lazarus.”  You can also watch a video of Plath reading “Lady Lazarus”:

Nancy Gomez Miller’s “Discovering Colors in Prison”

 

Poem for November 14:

Pedro Pietri’s “Puerto Rican Obituary”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58396/puerto-rican-obituary

Poems for November 12:

Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/i-hear-america-singing

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eNQqCmXLxA

Langston Hughes’ “I, Too”

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/i-too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rti7vmujaL4

Poems For November 7th:

Anne Sexton’s “The Fury of Overshoes”

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-fury-of-overshoes/

Anne Sexton’s “The Child Bearers”

https://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/anne-sexton/the-child-bearers/

For November 5th:

Sylvia Plath’s “You’re”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49010/youre

Poems for October 31st:

Alicia Ostriker’s “Thirsting”

 

Amy Lowell’s poem “Aliens”:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/13213/aliens

 

Ada Limón’s  poem “Instructions on Not Giving Up” (online)

  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/instructions-not-giving

 Rita Dove’s poem “Persephone, Falling,” (online) https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/persephone-falling

Rita Dove’s poem  “Found Sonnet: The Wig” (online) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/09/found-sonnet-the-wig

 

Billy Collins’ poem “Introduction to Poetry”:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46712/introduction-to-poetry

Mark Yakish’s essay “Reading a Poem: 20 Strategies”

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/how-to-read-poetry-a-step-by-step-guide/380657/