Across every section of the Pleiad, our staff works to recognize the various forms of expression that shape how we understand the world around us. Poetry, in particular, offers a space where language can be distilled, stretched and reimagined to capture moments, emotions and ideas that often resist straightforward explanation.
It’s worth taking the time to recognize and engage with poetry, not just during its official month, but as an ongoing part of how we interpret and connect with the world.
Editor-in-Chief, Bonnie Lord
I’ll be honest, AP Literature in high school poisoned my desire to read poetry for a while – I always felt the nagging desire to write an essay about what I read. However, in recent years a few poems have found their place in my good graces.
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias” sends chills down my spine whenever I read it, and I fear that is primarily because of Bryan Cranston’s performance of it in “Breaking Bad” (2008-2013). The authoritarian depth of Cranston’s voice is Earth-shaking and single-handedly made me want to read poetry again.
I also have to mention Refaat Alareer’s “If I Must Die,” a poem he wrote just five weeks before being killed in an Israeli airstrike. This work has inspired many to join the movement for Palestinian liberation, and it’s easily one of the most striking and heartbreaking poems I’ve ever read.
Finally, a poem I enjoy like a prayer, Ross Gay’s “A Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” is one I return to again and again. The nuance in his delivery combined with haunting music by Bon Iver moves me to tears almost every time I listen to it.
Assistant Managing Editor, Killian Altayeb
I’m an avid collector of poetry, and even after reading more traditionally “high-level” or canonical work, one of my favorites remains “HISTORY STUDENT FALLS IN LOVE WITH ASTRO PHYSICS STUDENT” by Keaton St. James. I don’t think I fully know how to explain my attachment to it; there’s something about the way it captures intimacy and curiosity at the same time that just stays with me.
Likewise, I tend to be drawn to poems that feel grounded but expansive. That’s part of why I also return to “Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night” by Mary Oliver, “The Iraqi Nights” by Dunya Mikhail, “Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye, “Homosexuality” by Frank O’Hara and “there are trans people here” by H. Melt.
Across all of these, I think what resonates most for me is how poetry can hold contradiction: how it can be quiet and expansive, specific and universal, all at once.
Features and Opinions Editor, Heidi Faramelli
My favorite poem of all time is “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver, who also happens to be my favorite poet.
I fell in love with this poem during an English class in high school. We were doing a March Madness bracket-style poetry tournament, and I voted for Oliver’s “The Summer Day” as many times as possible. Unfortunately, the poem didn’t win the tournament, but it won in my heart.
Reading this poem for the first time helped me discover that poetry wasn’t as boring as I’d previously thought (no offense, poets). Oliver quickly became one of my favorite writers in general; I ordered her poetry collection, “Devotions,” shortly after that day in high school. Just this past summer, I purchased a bullet journal called “This Wild and Precious Life,” which includes some of Oliver’s poetry but is mostly full of blank pages, which I have been filling with my various Albion experiences during my senior year.
The reason I love Oliver’s poetry is that she is so succinct, yet so awe-inspiring. In just a few words, she’s able to convey beautiful ideas about nature and humanity’s place in the world. Reading her work always makes me stop in my tracks and ask myself what it’s all for – all the rushing, stressing and wasted energy. She helps me realize that I should just sit back and truly experience my life unfolding around me.
Each of Oliver’s poems offers new secrets about the universe that she’s discovered, wrapped up as digestible, lovely little gifts. Her poetry offers glorious tidbits of wisdom that I carry with me throughout all of my days, and she often ends her poems with a question or call to action.
So, to conclude in the words of my favorite poem of Oliver’s:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?”
Part-Time Multimedia Journalist, Sophia Valchine
My favorite poem of all time is “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. I first read it in S.E. Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders,” and something about the poem grabbed me right away. It was short, simple and moving – and yes, I do have it memorized. I’ve kept this poem close to me since then, and last year I even did an art project centering around it.
What truly draws me to “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is a specific character from “The Outsiders”: Johnny Cade. Near the end of the novel, he runs into a burning church to save young children from a fire. Unfortunately, his heroism cost him his life, and his last words to his best friend, Ponyboy, are “stay gold.” I can’t explain how deeply these words cut into my heart, but I can say that both my middle school teacher and I were crying as she read the passage out loud.
Recently, “The Outsiders” has been adapted into a musical that I saw not too long ago. I sobbed again when they set Johnny’s last words to song, and I recommend listening to the song because it is absolutely devastating. It also reminded me of how long I’ve loved this poem.
There aren’t many pieces of writing that have stuck with me for this long, and I think it’s funny that the poem that did stick is the one about the temporary nature of the world. Maybe I disagree with Robert Frost on this one: Gold things can stay.
Volunteer Multimedia Journalist, Abby Clark
My favorite poem is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Rainy Day.” My mom made me memorize this poem because she memorized it as a kid, and it’s now one of my favorites. On cold, dreary days that are common in Michigan, I’m always reminded of this poem.
I think it’s a really beautiful piece to remember because of the lesson within it. We all have rainy days in our lives, mentally or physically. But, as Longfellow writes, “Behind the clouds the sun is still shining.” Bad days will happen, but the good days are not gone forever.
Volunteer Multimedia Journalist, Isabella Treglia
Meggi Royer’s “The Morning After I Killed Myself” is a poem that has stuck with me ever since I first read it in high school. It might be the only poem that has ever made me cry. Even though the poem was not directly applicable to my life, the details in it are so intricate that I felt like this life described had been mine. It provides a perspective of how beautiful life really is.
Part of the reason I love “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is that it’s an easy poem to memorize, and it sounds really nice when read aloud. However, the main reason I enjoy this poem so much is that it is able to tell a story with so few words. It is also the reason the poetry structure Golden Shovels exists, which is not a structure I love to write, but one I love to read. “The Golden Shovel” by Terrance Hayes uses Brooks’ poem to create another beautiful story about masculinity.
Volunteer Multimedia Journalist, Molly Baker
My favorite poem is part of a collection of short and simple poems about acceptance, personal growth and self-love within a book called “Inward” by Yung Pueblo.
When I bought this book, I was recovering from the lowest point I had ever been in my life. I was browsing my local Barnes and Noble store with my mother (thank you for always being willing to buy me books, Mama!), and I noticed “Inward” on a shelf next to the kids’ section.
The spine itself isn’t flashy, nor is it formatted with capital letters; instead, it is a soft, cream-white paperback with small ruby-colored text, stylized in lowercase letters. With everything I had been going through and trying to recover from, I suppose that, subconsciously, I sought out something that was calming. There are five sections in the book: distance, union, interlude, self-love and understanding. My favorite poem comes from union, on page 123.
The final lines of the poem go as follows: “she knows she could not have gotten / to where she is without every / movement she has ever made. / (experience)”
I look back at the girl I was during that time and how much pain she felt. I wish she knew how grateful I am for her resilience. Even despite her pain, she still held onto the hope that there would be a better day tomorrow. I would not be where I am today without her. This specific poem reminds me of my strength and serves as a reminder to not give up.
I recommend anyone who is struggling with their mental health to give it a read. You are not alone, and the poems in “Inward” are here to remind you of that and all the progress you’ve made to be where you are today.
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