⭐New learners are always welcome!
⭐More than a year of new topics with multicultural poetry!
⭐Become familiar with famous, diverse, and international poets!
⭐This is a safe creative space that is about so much more than poetry--it is a celebration of all that makes us human--a connecting with poets' thoughts and feelings from around the world--a time to stop and reflect on our experiences and express ourselves powerfully and creatively.
⭐Celebrate identity, strengths, growth, emotions, and wins!
⭐Process struggles, disappointments, and more.
⭐Intermediate and advanced English language (ESL) learners are welcome!
⭐This class is loved by diverse learners, including persons with ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia; Autistic; people from around the world; ESL learners; fledgling writers; enthusiastic poets; those getting in touch with their emotions; self-aware individuals; overwhelmed souls; calm souls; beginner artists; passionate artists; and many who are happy to make a new friend!
⭐No reading aloud is required, but volunteers are welcome.
⭐Any participation is celebrated (nods and thumbs up, emojis, messages in the text box, comments in our discussions, annotations on the screen, sharing artwork, telling a story, etc.
⭐Participate in annotating the poems for reading comprehension.
⭐No writing is required since each learner determines their creative art or poetry project to respond to the topic each week.
⭐Subscriptions renew every Sunday (like all ongoing classes.)
⭐Continue for as long as you want (and drop out when you need to.)
⭐Your encouraging messages and reviews help motivate me to continue creating new content!

There are many ways to approach poetry, and this class focuses on reading comprehension and using poetry as inspiration for self-expression. Over time, learners will develop an ease and confidence in approaching poetry and in using poetic terminology like "stanza" and "line". Additionally, our focus is on social-emotional skills, especially emotional awareness and self-expression, since we will work through various aspects of our recent experiences to process our feelings in a relaxed and creative way.

This class follows the same format as my extremely popular classes,  "Express Yourself #2: Themed Topics, Fun Poetry & Social-Emotional Reflection" (formerly called "Journalling 2020/2021" and "Journalling #1: Expressing My Life & Emotions With Poetry/Art") and "Express Yourself #3: Themed Topics, Classic Poetry & Social-Emotional Reflection" (formally called Journalling #2: Expressing My Life & Emotions With Poetry/Art"), but this one has seventy-five unique topics! New learners are welcome to begin with any of these classes, but there are slight differences in the types of poetry included in each one. Express Yourself #2 focuses mostly on poetry written for children. Express Yourself #3 highlights classic poetry (especially by our "good friend" Emily Dickinson). As for Express Yourself #4 (this one), there is an emphasis on diverse and multicultural voices. I have put much effort into searching out diverse poets of varying backgrounds from around the world whose poems are in the public domain (since I will be sharing the poems in the classroom and no purchase is required). 

Each class, we will begin by reading and discussing the poems of the week and some on-topic pictures to brainstorm personal stories for the week's topic (as listed below). Then, we will spend the rest of the time developing creative projects. Each learner will express their own story, emotions, or thoughts on the topic with an art or poetry project of their choice. They will be encouraged to share their projects at the end of class or in the classroom, but this is not a requirement.

▶️Due to rising costs and lower enrollment, I have had to increase my prices. This is consistent with Outschool's current recommendations. However, I am dedicated to finding a solution for all families! Do reach out to me if your learner would like to take my class and you need a discount. I can set up pay-what-you-can plans.

▶️Coupon Codes:
Try out the class for $1 with coupon code BELLGEXPRESS17.
Get an $8 ($10 off) class with coupon code BELLGEXPRESSNOV10 in November 2024.
Get an $8 ($10 off) class with coupon code BELLGEXPRESSDEC10 in December 2024.
Get an $8 ($10 off) class with coupon code BELLGEXPRESSJAN10 in January 2025.
Get an $8 ($10 off) class with coupon code BELLGEXPRESSFEB10 in February 2025.
Get an $8 ($10 off) class with coupon code BELLGEXPRESSMAR10 in March 2025.

▶️If you are able to pay the current fee, I thank you for your support since I work hard to provide creative, inspiring content while balancing the challenges of living with disability and chronic illness. Thank you!

SCHEDULE

⭐The Week of November 10 - Topic #50: Act Now

Poem: "One of Wei Presses" compiled by Confucious; translated by James Legge
Poet #1: Chinese; Spring and Autumn period prior to the Warring States period and the Qin dynasty; Hundred Schools of Thought; c. 551-479 BCE; male; grew up in poverty; governor; Minister of Crime; advisor to government officials; had and has many followers (of Confucianism)  
Poet #2: Scottish; 1815-1897; male; lived in Malaysia and Hong Kong; respected Confucius; picture put on a Hong Kong postage stamp; the first Professor of Chinese at Oxford University

Poem: "The Gift To Sing" by James Weldon Johnson
Poet: African-American; teacher; principal; first Black man admitted to the Florida Bar after the American Civil War; lawyer; married to Grace Nail Johnson; wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing"; wrote Broadway songs; diplomat in Venezuela and Nicaragua; civil rights activist; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) executive secretary; university creative writing professor

Poem: The Bridge Builder by Will Allen Dromgoole
Poet: American; 1860—1934; female; famous poet and writer, especially in the south; wrote a column in the newspaper; Poet Laureate; beloved speaker at literary groups, patriotic clubs, and writing circles; studied law; senate clerk; enjoyed hunting and fishing

⭐The Week of November 17 - Topic #51: Impressions
"Clearing up at Dawn" by Lǐ Bái (Li Po)
Poet: Chinese; 701-762; male

"Peacock Feather" by Effie Lee Newsome
Poet: African-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; 1885-1979; female; children’s poet and librarian

"The Harmonies of Waters" by R. J. T. Jefferson
Poet: British South African; 1864-?; male

⭐The Week of November 24 - Topic #52: Sounds

"River Roads" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

"Stravinsky's Three Pieces, 'Grotesques' for String Quartet: First and Second Movements" by Amy Lowell
Poet: American; 1874-1925; female; LGBTQ 

⭐The Week of December 1 - Topic #53: Treasures

"A Christmas Doll" by Margaret Widdemer (Last stanza removed)
Poet: American; 1884-1978; female

"Sonnet 2" by Gwendolyn Bennett
Poet: African-American; grew up on the Paiute Indian Reservation (Ute) because her parents worked there; Harlem Renaissance; 1902-1981; female; kidnapped by her father and grew up in hiding; 1st place in school art contest; wrote her high school play; taught design and art at Howard University; scholarship to study in France; graphic artist; co-founder and editor of an influential literary journal 

"Jogadhya Uma" by Toru Dutt (Tarulatta Datta)
Poet: Bengali-British-Indian; 1856-1877; female;  translator and author; also wrote in French; consumption/tuberculosis

⭐The Week of December 8 - Topic #54:  Fun, Tricks & Jokes

"A Snow Man" by an Anonymous Poet 
(From A Christmas Hamper: A Volume of Pictures and Stories for Little Folks)

"Light-hearted William" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

"Chansons Innocentes I" by E.E. Cummings
Poet: American; World War I; 1894-1962; male; lived in and loved Paris; anti-war view; arrested on suspicion of espionage; also traveled to the Soviet Union, Northern Africa, and Mexico; painter and playwright 

Topic #: Help on the Way!

"The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

The Week of 
"By the Sea" by Rufino Blanco Fombona
Poet: Venezuelan; 1874-1944; male; nominated for the Nobel prize six times

"Lunch" by F.S. Flint 
Poet: English; 1885-1960; male

"The Floweret" by Aleksandr Pushkin
Poet: Russian; 1799–1837; male

Desires
"I'd Love to Be a Fairy's Child" by Robert Graves

Poet: British; Irish heritage; Celtist who loved Irish mythology; World War 1; influenza pandemic; World War 2; 1895-1985; weakened lungs from childhood pneumonia; shell shock; friends with Siegfield Sassoon and Wilfred Owen; teacher; LGBTQ; commemorated with fifteen other “Great War” poets; shortlisted for the Nobel prize

"Clouds Across the Canyon" by John Gould Fletcher
Poet: American-British; 1886-1950; Pulitzer prize winner; chronic arthritis 

"I come weary" by Matsuo Basho
Poet: Japanese; Edo period; 1644-1694; male

"Autumn Movement" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

"I am the People, the Mob" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

"Hits and Runs" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

"Still Life" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

"Potato Blossom Songs and Jigs" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

"Wilderness" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

"The Man-Wind and the Woman-Wind" by Sung Yü

“A Fairy Song/Fairy Land I" by William Shakespeare (From Act 2, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Poet: English; bubonic plague; 1564-1616; male; actor, playwright, and owner of a theater group

"The Ko T'an: Celebrating the Industry and Fulness of King Wan's Queen" by Kǒng Fūzǐ/Confucious; translated by Epiphanius Wilson 
Poet #1: Chinese; Spring and Autumn period prior to the Warring States period and the Qin dynasty; Hundred Schools of Thought; c. 551-479 BCE; male; grew up in poverty; governor; Minister of Crime; advisor to government officials; had and has many followers (of Confucianism)  
Poet #2: English; 1845-1916; male; scholar of ancient texts from Egypt, China, Japan, India, Babylon, Assyria, and Israel; professor of classics; editor of the Literary Digest; translator; also fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, and German; also lived in Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New York

"Soldiers of Wei" compiled by Confucious; translated by  
Poet: 

"The Look-out" by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)

Poet: American-British; World War 1; Influenza Pandemic; World War 2; 1886-1961; female; treated by Sigmund Freud; LGBTQ; Also lived in Switzerland

COMPLETED

⭐The Week of October 8 - Topic #1: Neighbours & Communities

"Mending Wall" by Robert Frost
Poet: American; 1874-1963; male; also lived in Britain; four Pulitzer prizes; congressional gold medal; poet laureate; farmer and teacher; depression; much loss in his family

"The Flower Market" by Bai Juyi/Po Chu-i
Poet: Chinese; Tang dynasty; between 772-846; male; Buddhist; minor official; critical of political/social matters which led to his exile from the palace and capital; raised to power again

⭐The Week of October 15 - Topic #2: Tools and Technology

Section three of "Song of the Broad-Axe" by Walt Whitman
Poet: American; 1819-1892; male; printer, teacher, journalist, and clerk; possibly LGBTQ

"To Working Men" by Walt Whitman (Beginning from section six; shortened)
Poet: American; 1819-1892; male; LGBTQ

"Crossing the Hex Mountains" by John Runcie 
Poet: South African; 1905-?; male; journalist in Cape Town

⭐The Week of October 29 - Topic #3: Mysteries

"The Haunted House" by Madison Julius Cawein
Poet: American; 1865-1914; male; fond of nature; lost money in the 1912 stock market crash

"The Black Finger" by Angelina Weld Grimké
Poet: African-American; 1880-1958; female; biracial; LGBTQ; teacher & journalist

"Lost Glimpses" by Luis G. Dato
Poet: Filipino; 1906-1985; male; journalist, editor, university professor, and mayor

⭐The Week of November 5 - Topic #4: We Will Remember
*This topic refers to war, soldiers, loss, and sacrifice (Remembrance Day)

"In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae
Poet: Canadian; World War 1; 1872-1918; male; physician, author, artist, and soldier; doctor to the Governor General of Canada on a canoe trip to Hudson Bay

"Sunsets" by Richard Aldington
Poet: English; World War 1; 1892-1962; male; was married to Hilda Doolittle (H.D.); Imagist

"Two Fusiliers" by Robert Graves
Poet: British; Irish heritage; Celtist who loved Irish mythology; World War 1; influenza pandemic; World War 2; 1895-1985; weakened lungs from childhood pneumonia; shell shock; friends with Siegfield Sassoon and Wilfred Owen; teacher; LGBTQ; commemorated with fifteen other “Great War” poets; shortlisted for the Nobel prize

⭐The Week of November 12 - Topic #5: Shocking Surprises

"The Paroo River" by Henry Lawson
Poet: Australian; 1867-1922; male
(Religious references included, but are not the focus)

"Chicory and Daisies" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

⭐The Week of November 19 - Topic #6: Harvest

"Harvest Moon" by George Marion McClellan
Poet: African-American; 1860-1934; male; high school teacher and principal

“Harvest Time” by Emily Pauline Johnson
Poet: Mohawk-Canadian; 1861-1913; female; daughter of the Six Nations’ leader; writer, artist, and performer

“Thanksgiving Ode” by James McIntyre
Poet: Scottish-Canadian; 1828-1906; male; opened a furniture factory and store (which also sold pianos and coffins)

“Harvest” by John Charles McNeill
Poet: American; Scottish heritage; 1874-1907; male; clerk, teacher, lawyer, journalist

⭐The Week of November 26 - Topic #7: Deep Things & Philosophies - Universe, Space, Being & Truth (Connect with first moon landing)

"At Night" by Yone Noguchi
Poet: Japanese; 1875–1947; male

"To an Unknown Poet" by Yone Noguchi
Poet: Japanese; 1875–1947; male

"Philosophy" by Dorothy Parker
Poet: American; Scottish, German & Jewish heritage; World War 1; Great Depression; World War 2; 1893-1967; female; screenwriter; Academy award nominee; brother sank with the Titanic; pianist; theater critic for Vanity Fair; Civil rights activist

⭐The Week of December 3 - Topic #8: Hobbies

"The Skaters" by John Gould Fletcher
Poet: American-British; 1886-1950; Pulitzer prize winner; chronic arthritis 

"Shady, Shady, the Wood in Front of the Hall" by T’ao Ch'ien
Poet: Chinese; 365-427; male; Taoist/Buddhist; farmer

"Chant for Dark Hours" by Dorothy Parker
Poet: American; Scottish, German & Jewish heritage; World War 1; Great Depression; World War 2; 1893-1967; female; screenwriter; Academy award nominee; brother sank with the Titanic; pianist; theater critic for Vanity Fair; Civil rights activist

⭐The Week of December 31 - Topic #9: Night

"The Fisherman" by Luis G. Dato
Poet: Filipino; 1906-1985; male; journalist, editor, university professor, and mayor

"A Song of the Road" by José Santos Chocano
Poet: Peruvian; 1875-1934; male

⭐The Week of January 14 - Topic #10: Magic, Stories & Imagination

"The Dream Child's Invitation" by Alfred Noyes
Poet: English; World War 1 & 2; 1880-1958; male; inspired by the mountains and coast; liked rowing; pacifist; American wife; lived and taught in the United States; playwright and professor; taught F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Frost" by Madison Cawein
Poet: American; 1865-1914; male; fond of nature; lost money in the 1912 stock market crash

⭐The Week of January 21 - Topic #11: Perseverance & Determination (Connect with goals and New Year’s resolutions)

"‘Twas the new moon!" by Matsuo Bashō & William George (translator)
Poet: Japanese; Edo period; 1644-1694; male
Poet: 
"Mexican Market Woman" by Langston Hughes
Poet: African-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; 1901-1967; male

"As I Grew Older" by Langston Hughes
Poet: African-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; 1901-1967; male

"January" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

⭐The Week of January 28 - Topic #12: Inspired to Create

"There is a poetry that speaks" by Madison Julius Cawein 
Poet: American; 1865-1914; male; fond of nature; lost money in the 1912 stock market crash
*Shortened; last two stanzas removed 

"Sunset" by Effie Lee Newsome
Poet: African-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; 1885-1979; female; children’s poet and librarian

"Where is the Poet" by Yone Noguchi
Poet: Japanese; 1875–1947; male

⭐The Week of February 4 - Topic #13: Wonderful Times
(Connect with Chinese/Lunar New Year)

"Inviting Guests" by Ch’ēng-kung Sui and Arthur Waley (translator)
Poet #1: Chinese; ?-273
Poet #2: English; 1889-1966; male; Jewish; worked at the British Museum; poet; read classical Japanese and traditional Chinese fluently; ran the Japanese Censorship Section at the Ministry of Information during World War 2 

"The Banjo Player" by Fenton Johnson
Poet: African-American; 1888-1958; male; editor and educator

"Morning" by Olivia Ward Bush-Banks
Poet: African-Montauk-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; Great Depression theater project; 1869-1944; African, Montauk, Indian, and Portuguese heritage; female; founded the Bush-Banks School of Expression in Chicago 

⭐The Week of February 11 - Topic #14: Deep Things & Philosophies - Love & Beauty
(Valentine’s Day)

"Revery" by Fenton Johnson
Poet: African-American; 1888-1958; male; editor and educator

"Primrose" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

⭐The Week of February 18 - Topic #15: Nature’s Power & Strength

"Song of the Moon" by Priscilla Jane Thompson
Poet: African-American; 1871-1941; parents escaped from slavery on the Underground Railway; female; poor health 

"Approach of Winter" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

"Blizzard" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

⭐The Week of February 25 - Topic #16: A Change in Mood

"Dust of Snow" by Robert Frost
Poet: American; 1874-1963; male; also lived in Britain; four Pulitzer prizes; congressional gold medal; poet laureate; farmer and teaching; depression; much loss in his family

"Rondeau" by Jessie Redmon Fauset
Poet: African-American; 1882-1961; editor of an NAACP magazine and French teacher; mentored other African-American poets

"Morning on Shinnecock" by Olivia Ward Bush-Banks
Poet: African-Montauk-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; Great Depression theater project; 1869-1944; African, Montauk, Indian, and Portuguese heritage; female; founded the Bush-Banks School of Expression in Chicago 

"Gloom" by F.S. Flint
Poet: English; 1885-1960; male

⭐The Week of March 3 - Topic #17: Dissent (Connect with Women’s Day)

"Thoughts in Jail" by Katharine Rolston Fisher
Poet: American; women’s suffrage; 1871-1949; female; arrested and spent thirty days in a workhouse after picketing for voting rights; secretary of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage

"Alice Paul" by Katharine Rolston Fisher
Poet: American; women’s suffrage; 1871-1949; female; arrested and spent thirty days in a workhouse after picketing for voting rights; secretary of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage

"Chwang Keang Bemoans Her Husband’s Cruelty" by Kǒng Fūzǐ/Confucious; translated by Epiphanius Wilson 
Poet #1: Chinese; Spring and Autumn period prior to the Warring States period and the Qin dynasty; Hundred Schools of Thought; c. 551-479 BCE; male; grew up in poverty; governor; Minister of Crime; advisor to government offic"How I Sailed on the Lake Till I Came to the Eastern Stream" by Lù Yǔ
Poet: Chinese; Tang dynasty; 733–804; male; studied in a monastery; loved tea and wrote multiple books about it; made tea more popular in China; tea sellers made pottery statues of him; known as the “Sage of Tea” and “tea god”
Poet #2: English; 1845-1916; male; scholar of ancient texts from Egypt, China, Japan, India, Babylon, Assyria, and Israel; professor of classics; editor of the Literary Digest; translator; also fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, and German; also lived in Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New York

⭐The Week of March 10 - Topic #18: Joy

"Joy" by Clarissa Scott Delany
Poet: African-American; Harlem Renaissance; 1901–1927; educator and social worker; traveled to France and Germany

"On Sorrow and Joy" by Kahlil Gibran
Poet: Syrian-Lebanese-American; father was imprisoned for embezzlement (tax collector); mother supported them (seamstress); studied art in Paris; wrote in Arabic and English

"I Saw You" by Joshua Henry Jones, Jr.
Poet: African-American; World War 1; ?-1955; male; composer; married a Canadian

⭐The Week of March 17 - Topic #19: Looking Back

"A Picture" by Olivia Ward Bush-Banks
Poet: African-Montauk-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; Great Depression theater project; 1869-1944; African, Montauk, Indian, and Portuguese heritage; female; founded the Bush-Banks School of Expression in Chicago 

"2060" by U Tak
Poet: Korean; 1263-1343; male; philosopher; neo-Confucianism

"Poem" by Langston Hughes
Poet: African-American; Harlem Renaissance; 1901-1967; male
 
⭐The Week of March 24 - Holiday

⭐The Week of March 31 - Topic #20: An Outing (Easter/QingMing Festival)

"How I Sailed on the Lake Till I Came to the Eastern Stream" by Lù Yǔ
Poet: Chinese; Tang dynasty; 733–804; male; studied in a monastery; loved tea and wrote multiple books about it; made tea more popular in China; tea sellers made pottery statues of him; known as the “Sage of Tea” and “tea god”
Poet #2: English; 1845-1916; male; scholar of ancient texts from Egypt, China, Japan, India, Babylon, Assyria, and Israel; professor of classics; editor of the Literary Digest; translator; also fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, and German; also lived in Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New York

"The Santa Fe Trail" by Vachel Lindsay (beginning from "The mufflers open on a score of cars")
Poet: American; 1879-1931; male; pushed to study medicine but wanted to be a painter; founder of “singing poetry”; performance poet who whispered, chanted, belted, and whooped; influenced by Jazz and other music; patron of the silent pictures (film); walked from Florida to Kentucky, New York City to Ohio, and Illinois to New Mexico; traded his poems for food and lodging; encouraged Langston Hughes

⭐The Week of April 7 - Topic #21: Compassion

"Complaint" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

"The Big Rug" by Bai Juyi/Po Chu-i and Arthur Waley (translator)
Poet #1: Chinese; Tang dynasty; between 772-846; male; Buddhist; minor official; critical of political/social matters which led to his exile from the palace and capital; raised to power again
Poet #2: English; 1889-1966; male; Jewish; worked at the British Museum; poet; read classical Japanese and traditional Chinese fluently; ran the Japanese Censorship Section at the Ministry of Information during World War 2

"The Charcoal-Seller" by Bai Juyi/Po Chu-i and Arthur Waley (translator)
Poet #1: Chinese; Tang dynasty; between 772-846; male; Buddhist; minor official; critical of political/social matters which led to his exile from the palace and capital; raised to power again
Poet #2: English; 1889-1966; male; Jewish; worked at the British Museum; poet; read classical Japanese and traditional Chinese fluently; ran the Japanese Censorship Section at the Ministry of Information during World War 2

⭐The Week of April 14 - Topic #22: The Writer, the Poet, and the Artist (Connect with National Poetry Month)

"To a Portrait Painter Who Desired Him to Sit" by Bai Juyi/Po Chu-i
Poet: Chinese; Tang dynasty; between 772-846; male; Buddhist; minor official; critical of political/social matters which led to his exile from the palace and capital; raised to power again

"On Hearing Someone Sing a Poem by Yuan Zhen/Chen"
Poet: Chinese; New Yuefu Folk Ballad Revival Movement; 779-831; male; used poetry for self-expression and dissent, and to highlight the misconduct of officials; raised and homeschooled by his mother; outspoken; military adviser; governor; tried to reorganize the bureau

⭐The Week of April 21 - Topic #23: The Sea - Its Beauty & Power
(Connect with the Anniversary of Titanic sinking)

"Evening" by Olivia Ward Bush-Banks
Poet: African-Montauk-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; Great Depression theater project; 1869-1944; African, Montauk, Indian, and Portuguese heritage; female; founded the Bush-Banks School of Expression in Chicago 

"O Sea, That Knowest Thy Strength" by Effie Lee Newsome
Poet: African-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; 1885-1979; female; children’s poet and librarian

"Nocturne of the Wharves" by Arna Bontemps
Poet: American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; 1902-1973; male; Loisiana Creole speaking; educator and librarian

⭐The Week of April 28 - Topic #24: Hope 
"After Storm" by Lola Ridge
Poet: Irish-New-Zealander-American; 1873-1941; female; also lived in Australia

"Hope" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson
Poet: African-American; Post-Civil War; Women’s Suffrage; Harlem Renaissance; 1875-1935; female

"Make Me a Picture of the Sun" by Emily Dickinson
Poet: American; 1830-1886; female; reclusive; anxiety disorder; neurasthenia (chronic fatigue, depression, insomnia, etc.); probable epilepsy

"For a Poet" by Countee Cullen
Poet: African-American; Harlem Renaissance; 1903-1946; LGBTQ; president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

⭐The Week of May 5 - Topic #25: Childhood

“Morning” by Olivia Ward Bush-Banks
Poet: African-Montauk-American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; Great Depression theater project; 1869-1944; African, Montauk, Indian, and Portuguese heritage; female; founded the Bush-Banks School of Expression in Chicago

"A Child's Treasures" by Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
Poet: Canadian; French-Canadian perspective; 1829-1879; female

"Address To A Child During A Boisterous Winter By My Sister" by William Wordsworth
Poet: English; 1770-1850; male; close friendship with sister; travelled or lived in France, Switzerland, and Germany; founder of English Romanticism; poet laureate of England

⭐The Week of May 12 - Topic #26: Resilience

"A Girl's Garden" by Robert Frost
Poet: American; 1874-1963; male; also lived in Britain; four Pulitzer prizes; congressional gold medal; poet laureate; farmer and teaching; depression; much loss in his family

"Like a Strong Tree" by Claude McKay
Poet: Jamaican-American; Harlem Renaissance; 1890-1948; male; lived in Russia (Soviet Union), Germany, France, Spain, and Morocco; LGBTQ

"The Mask" by Clarissa Scott Delany 
Poet: African-American; Harlem Renaissance; 1901–1927; female; educator and social worker; traveled to France and Germany

⭐The Week of May 19 - Topic #27: Exploration

"London Excursion" by John Gould Fletcher
Poet: American-British; 1886-1950; Pulitzer prize winner; chronic arthritis 

"Overture to a Dance of Locomotives" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician

⭐The Week of May 26 - Topic #28: Change
"Altered" by Luis G. Dato
Poet: Filipino; 1906-1985; male; journalist, editor, university professor, and mayor

"The Caterpillar" by Robert Graves
Poet: British; Irish heritage; Celtist who loved Irish mythology; World War 1; influenza pandemic; World War 2; 1895-1985; weakened lungs from childhood pneumonia; shell shock; friends with Siegfield Sassoon and Wilfred Owen; teacher; LGBTQ; commemorated with fifteen other “Great War” poets; shortlisted for the Nobel prize

"All the World's a Stage" by William Shakespeare
Poet: English; bubonic plague; 1564-1616; male; actor, playwright, and owner of a theater group

⭐The Week of June 2- Topic #29: Enthusiasm, Interests & Passion

"You! Inez!" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson
Poet: African-American; Post-Civil War; Women’s Suffrage; Harlem Renaissance; 1875-1935; female

"The Two Boys" by Mary Lamb
Poet: English; 1764-1847; female; bipolar disorder

"Patterns" by Amy Lowell
Poet: American; 1874-1925; female; LGBTQ

"The Black Panther" by John Hall Wheelock
Poet: American; 1886-1976; male

⭐The Week of June 9 - Topic #30: Wild Weather & Natural Disasters 

"Wind" by Gwendolyn Bennett 
Poet: African-American; grew up on the Paiute Indian Reservation (Ute) because her parents worked there; Harlem Renaissance; 1902-1981; female; kidnapped by her father and grew up in hiding; 1st place in school art contest; wrote her high school play; taught design and art at Howard University; scholarship to study in France; graphic artist; co-founder and editor of an influential literary journal 

"Blight" by Arna Bontemps
Poet: American; Great Migration; Harlem Renaissance; 1902-1973; male; Loisiana Creole speaking; educator and librarian
  
⭐The Week of June 16 - Topic #31: Freedom, Values & Virtues
(Connect with Juneteenth) 

"Freedom's Home" by G.L. (Lines removed in the last stanza for religious content)
Poet: South African

"Oriflamme" by Jessie Redmon Fauset (Mentions slavery)
Poet: African-American; 1882-1961; editor of an NAACP magazine and French teacher; mentored other African-American poets

"Gitanjali 35" by Rabindranath Tagore
Poet: Bengali-Indian; Bengal Renaissance; 1861-1941; male; well-rounded polymath; Hindu Brahmin; wanted independence from Britain; composer, painter, philosopher, social reformer, and playwright; Nobel prize; the “Bard of Bengal”; founded a university; wrote India and Bangladesh’s national anthems and inspired Sri Lanka’s; traveled to thirty countries 

⭐The Week of June 23 - Topic #32: Danger, Care & Protection
(Connect with the Dragon Boat Festival)

"Fairy Land II" by William Shakespeare (From Act 2, Scene 2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Poet: English; bubonic plague; 1564-1616; male; actor, playwright, and owner of a theater group

"The Snowflake Tree" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Poet: American; 1852-1930; female; regionalist writer; feminist; William Dean Howells Gold Medal for Fiction; National Institute for Arts and Letters

"The Fireman's Ball" by Vachel Lindsay
Poet: American; 1879-1931; male; pushed to study medicine but wanted to be a painter; founder of “singing poetry”; performance poet who whispered, chanted, belted, and whooped; influenced by Jazz and other music; patron of the silent pictures (film); walked from Florida to Kentucky, New York City to Ohio, and Illinois to New Mexico; traded his poems for food and lodging; encouraged Langston Hughes

⭐The Week of June 30 - Topic #33: What a Small World!

“The Heavenly Hills of Holland” by Henry Van Dyke
Poet: African-American; 1852-1933; male; wanted to be a concert pianist; joined the army; learned German; reporter; Avery Hopwood Award for Fiction

⭐The Week of July 7 - Week Off

⭐The Week of July 14 - Topic #34: Opinions & Preferences

"Three Little Birds in a Row" by Stephen Crane
Poet: American; 1871-1900; male; poor health from childhood; could read and write by four; lost his father at age eight; subsequent losses; loved baseball; friendly but moody and rebellious; journalist; survived a sinking ship; lived in Greece, England, and Germany; rescued “Velestino, the Journal dog”; tuberculosis

"Inventory" by Dorothy Parker
Poet: American; Scottish, German & Jewish heritage; World War 1; Great Depression; World War 2; 1893-1967; female; screenwriter; Academy award nominee; brother sank with the Titanic; pianist; theater critic for Vanity Fair; Civil rights activist

"The Wild Goat" by Claude McKay
Poet: Jamaican-American; Harlem Renaissance; 1890-1948; male; lived in Russia (Soviet Union), Germany, France, Spain, and Morocco; LGBTQ

⭐The Week of July 21 - Topic #35: Simple Pleasures

“Erie Waters” by Emily Pauline Johnson
Poet: Mohawk-Canadian; 1861-1913; female; daughter of the Six Nations’ leader; writer, artist, and performer

“A Day Off” by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Poet: Canadian; Scottish heritage; 1874-1942; female; lost her mother before the age of two; grew up with her grandparents; felt isolated; published prior to turning sixteen; college educated; became a teacher; also a proofreader and postmistress; author of Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon; first Canadian woman to be part of the British Royal Society of Arts; Person of National Historic Significance in Canada

Alushta By Day by Adam Bernard Mickiewicz
Poet: Polish; 1798-1855; male; lived in Belarus, Türkiye, Russia, France, and Switzerland; arrested and deported to Russia for illegal patriotism; wanted Polish national freedom; friends with Aleksandr Pushkin; Latin literature university professor in Switzerland; Slavonic literature professor in France; librarian

⭐The Week of July 28 - Topic #36: Beauty

“No Images" by Waring Cuney
Poet: American; 1906-1976; male; musician; World War 2

"Trees at Night" by Helene Johnson
Poet: African-American; Harlem Renaissance; 1906-1995; female

"Song" by Sung Tzŭ-hou and Arthur Waley (translator)
Poet #1: Chinese; Jin dynasty (266 to 420); 4th century; female
Poet #2: English; 1889-1966; male; Jewish; worked at the British Museum; poet; read classical Japanese and traditional Chinese fluently; ran the Japanese Censorship Section at the Ministry of Information during World War 

⭐The Week of August 4 - Topic #37: Legendary (Connect with Qixi “Valentine’s” Festival)

“Poem 10” (beginning with “Far away twinkles the Herd-boy star”) by an unknown Chinese poet

"The Ballad of the Drover" by Henry Lawson
Poet: Australian; 1867-1922; male

"Maiden Melancholy" by Rainer Maria Rilke
Poet: Austrian; 1875-1926; male; wrote in French and German; travelled throughout Europe and to Russia; moved to Switzerland; leukemia

⭐The Week of August 11 - Topic #38: Architecture, Structures & Places

"Houses" by F.S. Flint
Poet: English; 1885-1960; male

"Arizona: The Windmills" by John Gould Fletcher
Poet: American-British; 1886-1950; Pulitzer prize winner; chronic arthritis 

"Cherry-Tree Inn" by Henry Lawson
Poet: Australian; 1867-1922; male 

⭐The Week of August 18 - Topic #39: Human Power and Strength

"Let Me Go Warm" by Luis de Góngora
Poet: Spanish; 1561-1627; male

"I Had Thought Myself Frail" (from “Fragment 40”) by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Poet: American-British; World War 1; Influenza Pandemic; World War 2; 1886-1961; female; treated by Sigmund Freud; LGBTQ; Also lived in Switzerland

⭐The Week of August 25 - Topic #40: Perspective

"Two Points of View" by Lucian B. Watkins

Poet: African-American; World War 1; 1878-1921; male; teacher

"Verses to the Moon" by Luis Carlos López and William George Williams (translator)

Poet #1: Colombian; 1883-1950; male; poet and novelist

Poet #2: English; 1851-1918; male; fluent in Spanish; often in Central and South America for business; father of William Carlos Williams; worked on some translation projects with his son

"Ogre" by F.S. Flint

Poet: English; 1885-1960; male

⭐The Week of September 1 - Topic #41: Blunders, Bloopers & Regret

"Eletelephony" by Laura E. Richards

Poet: American; 1851-1943; mother wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"; physician father directed the Perkins Institute of the Blind; abolitionist family; philanthropist; avid writer; Pulitzer Prize for Biography

"Regret" by Yüan Chi and Arthur Waley (translator)

Poet #1: Chinese; 201/210-263; Han dynasty through Three Kingdoms; Daoist; musician

Poet #2: English; 1889-1966; male; Jewish; worked at the British Museum; poet; read classical Japanese and traditional Chinese fluently; ran the Japanese Censorship Section at the Ministry of Information during World War 2

⭐The Week of September 8 - Topic #42: Reactions

"from Stray Birds" by Rabindranath Tagore

Poet: Bengali-Indian; Bengal Renaissance; 1861-1941; male; well-rounded polymath; Hindu Brahmin; wanted independence from Britain; composer, painter, philosopher, social reformer, and playwright; Nobel prize; the “Bard of Bengal”; founded a university; wrote India and Bangladesh’s national anthems and inspired Sri Lanka’s; traveled to thirty countries

⭐The Week of September 15 - Topic #43: Under the Harvest Moon

"The Moon" by Robert Louis Stevenson
Poet: Scottish; 1850-1894; male; chronic illness; studied law; traveller; American wife; author of Treasure Island and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

"Contemporania" by William Carlos Williams
Poet: American; 1883-1963; male; pediatric physician 

"Laughing Corn" by Carl Sandburg
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize

⭐The Week of September 22 - Topic #44:  Dear and Near

"Sonnet 2" by Gwendolyn Bennett
Poet: African-American; grew up on the Paiute Indian Reservation (Ute) because her parents worked there; Harlem Renaissance; 1902-1981; female; kidnapped by her father and grew up in hiding; 1st place in school art contest; wrote her high school play; taught design and art at Howard University; scholarship to study in France; graphic artist; co-founder and editor of an influential literary journal 

⭐The Week of September 29 - Topic #45: Fragrances & Perfumes

"The Flower at My Window" by Lucian B. Watkins
Poet: African-American; World War 1; 1878-1921; male; teacher

"For A Creole Lady" by Charles Pierre Baudelaire
Poet: French; 1821-1867; male; travelled to India; relationship with a Haitian woman; 1848 revolutionary; translations of Edgar Allen Poe

⭐The Week of October 6 - No Class
 
⭐The Week of October 13 - Topic #46: Responsibilities

"The Pasture" by Robert Frost
Poet: American; 1874-1963; male; also lived in Britain; four Pulitzer prizes; congressional gold medal; poet laureate; farmer and teaching; depression; much loss in his family

"After Apple Picking" by Robert Frost
Poet: American; 1874-1963; male; also lived in Britain; four Pulitzer prizes; congressional gold medal; poet laureate; farmer and teaching; depression; much loss in his family 

"The Song of the Plantain Gathers" by Kǒng Fūzǐ/Confucious; translated by Epiphanius Wilson 
Poet #1: Chinese; Spring and Autumn period prior to the Warring States period and the Qin dynasty; Hundred Schools of Thought; c. 551-479 BCE; male; grew up in poverty; governor; Minister of Crime; advisor to government officials; had and has many followers (of Confucianism)  
Poet #2: English; 1845-1916; male; scholar of ancient texts from Egypt, China, Japan, India, Babylon, Assyria, and Israel; professor of classics; editor of the Literary Digest; translator; also fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, and German; also lived in Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New York

⭐The Week of October 22 - Topic #47: Recipes & Instructions (Connect with Halloween, Thanksgiving & harvest festivals)

“Song of the Witches: Double, Double Toil and Trouble” by William Shakespeare
Poet: English; bubonic plague; 1564-1616; male; actor, playwright, and owner of a theater group

"Recipe for a Salad" by Sydney Smith
Poet: English; 1771-1845; male; teacher, writer & priest; women's rights activist and anti-slavery

"Eating Bamboo Shoots" by Bai Juyi/Po Chu-i
Poet: Chinese; Tang dynasty; between 772-846; male; Buddhist; minor official; critical of political/social matters which led to his exile from the palace and capital; raised to power again

⭐The Week of October 27 - Topic #48: Wary and Fearful

"Terror" by F.S. Flint
Poet: English; 1885-1960; male

"The Red Hills" by Bao Zhao/Pao Chao and Arthur Waley (translator)
Poet #1: Chinese; c. 414-466; male; folk song poet
Poet #2: English; 1889-1966; male; Jewish; worked at the British Museum; poet; read classical Japanese and traditional Chinese fluently; ran the Japanese Censorship Section at the Ministry of Information during World War 2 

"Song of the Serpent Charmers" by Sir Edwin Arnold
Poet: English; journalist; lived in India; introduced Buddhism to the West; knighted

⭐The Week of November 3 - Topic #49: Home

“Argonauts” by Luis G. Dato
Poet: Filipino; 1906-1985; male; journalist, editor, university professor, and mayor

"Prairie" by Carl Sandburg
*Extract
Poet: American; 1878-1967; male; impoverished family; historian; musician; poet; Pulitzer prize