Anonymous · 23d
hi sprout! not the same anon as the last one who asked for poems but I really enjoyed the ones you shared, especially In a Time of Peace. I'm doing a speech contest soon (there isn't really a theme) where you can read a poem, excerpt from a story, or a speech, and I was wondering if you had some suggestions for something that would be good for this kind of competition. Thank you so much for your time have a lovely day!
OH MY GOD??? THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL?? okay well i have some poem ideas, idk what the exact vibe is for the speech but ill try to offer a few.
so i actually heard ilya kaminsky read "in a time of peace" out loud and it was really cool, i just really love the line "The body of a boy lies on the pavement exactly like the body of a boy." bc (in my interpretation) it highlights the way art/society can romanticize a body or turn it into a noble sad symbol when it is just a dead body etc
"it's this way" is my FAVORITE fucking poem ever just bc of the simple line "i can't smell the medicines--carnations must be blooming nearby" and i could ramble endlessly about each poem i pick but then this response will go one way too long: https://allpoetry.com/It's-This-Way
ross gay i love his hopeful poems so here's "catalog of unabashed gratitude" and "sorrow is not my name"
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58762/catalog-of-unabashed-gratitude
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/92472/sorrow-is-not-my-name
another hopeful poem/appreciating life poem by nazim hikmet "things i didn't know i love" (would also recommend reading the about/notes about this poem): https://poets.org/poem/things-i-didnt-know-i-loved
"god the whale" by freya bantiff is so fucking cool: https://www.theglobalretreatcompany.com/journal/god-the-whale
"snowdrops" by louise gluck: https://hellopoetry.com/poem/20568/snowdrops/
"all that wanting, right?" by devin kelly: https://www.havehashad.com/hadposts/all-that-wanting-right
"wail" by johnson cheu: https://poets.org/poem/wail-0
"for m" for the classic line "please leave your scarf in my life and come back for it later": https://www.foundryjournal.com/harvey.html
"i'm going back to minnesota where sadness makes sense": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/161060/im-going-back-to-minnesota-where-sadness-makes-sense
"little prayer" short and sweet: https://poets.org/poem/little-prayer
the ninth duino elegy: https://poetrysociety.org/poems/ninth-elegy
OKAY I HOPE THAT WAS ENOUGH AND WITH ENOUGH VARIETY PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT U END UP PICKING AND THANK U FOR THE QUESTION <333
