1. FREE VERSE
From Blossoms
By Li-Young Lee
From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.
From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.
O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.
There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
2. SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET OR ENGLISH SONNET
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
By William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? - A
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: - B
Rough winds do shake the the darling buds of May, - A
And summer’s lease hath all too short date: - B
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shine, - C
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; - D
And every fair from fair sometime declines, - C
By chance or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d; - D
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, - E
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; - F
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, - E
When eternal lines to time thou growest; - F
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, - G
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. – G
3. THE NEW COLOSSUS
BY: EMMA LAZARU
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, (A)
With conquering limbs astride from land to land; (B)
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand (B)
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame (A)
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name (A)
Mother at exiles. From her beacon-hand (B)
Glows world-wide welcome, her mild eyes command (B)
The air-bridged harbour that twin cities frame. (A)
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’’ cries she (C)
With silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, (D)
Your handled masses yearning to breathe free, (C)
The wretched refuse at your teeming shore. (D)
Send these, the homeless tempest-tost to me (C)
I lift my lamp beside the golden door! (C)
4. Tanaga is a type of Filipino poem using four lines, each line having seven syllables only.
The art exemplifies teachings, idioms, feelings, and ways of life. It usually contains many
figures of speech.
Example:
HANGING AROUND
Thought I'd hang around today
Come what will and come what may
Take it easy, breathe a bit
Toxic stress, time to emit
