Posts Tagged ‘Margaret Atwood’
101 Poetry Night: Are we all born poets? To show the world that truth, we must begin.
Posted on: March 30, 2016
101 Poetry Night
These are excerpts of a few poems delivered during the sessions
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou – “I know why the Caged Bird Sings”
From “Variations on the Word Sleep” by Margaret Atwood:
“I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed…
and that necessary.”
Art by: Meghan Howland
The two years
You were my lover
Are the two most important pages
In the book of modern love.
All the pages before and after…
Were blank.
These pages
Are the lines of the equator
Passing between your lips and mine
They are the measures of time
That are used
To set the clocks of the world.
– Nizar Qabbani
One Hundred Love Letters, Number 14
If you ever wake up forgetting,
I’ll let you eat
the sun whole; I’ll
turn myself into
a mirror …
so you can see
all the light
that cracks out of
you.
– A.Y. // a promise for the morning
Art by: Eugenia Loli
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.…
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Gibran Khalil Gibran
Become controversy.
Become the noise.
Cut through the politeness
of normalcy.
They demand that
you blend into the wall,
but darling,
you have always been
the masterpiece upon it.
— Noor Shirazie
Art by: Weekend Hashtag Project
“Addiction is tricky.
For example: a man who quit smoking for 11 years spent 15 seconds in an elevator with a man smoking a cigarette. He gave in.
What I’m trying to say is I think I love you again.”
Sculpture by David Altmejd
By Nayyirah Waheed
Meet our guest poet for March’s poetry night!
Originally from Ras el Maten- Lebanon, Jana Bou Reslan is a doctoral candidate of Leadership in Higher Education at Saint Louis University, Missouri (May 2016).
She has been an instructor of the English Language and Education at several private universities in Lebanon.
She is the founder of iPoetry.info, an interdisciplinary project that advocates freedom of expression through retreats in nature, poetry workshops, and the website: iPoetry.info.
The project idea was first presented in TEDxBeirut 2012. Jana is currently the chairperson of English and Translation Department at AUST.
After earning her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with Minors in Arabic and English languages, as well as an MBA from AUB & LAU, she has worked as an elementary and middle school English teacher for 5 years before turning into research and teaching at universities in 2010.
She will be joining us to share her experiences in the literary world, and perform poetry in both Arabic and English. Be sure not to miss it!
