Sanctuary

By Jean Valentine

People pray to each other. The way I say “you” to someone else,
respectfully, intimately, desperately. The way someone says
“you” to me, hopefully, expectantly, intensely …
—Huub Oosterhuis

You who I don’t know I don’t know how to talk to you

—What is it like for you there?

Here … well, wanting solitude; and talk; friendship—
The uses of solitude. To imagine; to hear.
Learning braille. To imagine other solitudes.
But they will not be mine;
to wait, in the quiet; not to scatter the voices—

What are you afraid of?

What will happen. All this leaving. And meetings, yes. But death.
What happens when you die?

“… not scatter the voices,”

Drown out. Not make a house, out of my own words. To be quiet in
another throat; other eyes; listen for what it is like there. What
word. What silence. Allowing. Uncertain: to drift, in the
restlessness … Repose. To run like water—

What is it like there, right now?

Listen: the crowding of the street; the room. Everyone hunches in
against the crowding; holding their breath: against dread.

What do you dread?

What happens when you die?

What do you dread, in this room, now?

Not listening. Now. Not watching. Safe inside my own skin.
To die, not having listened. Not having asked … To have scattered
life.

Yes I know: the thread you have to keep finding, over again, to
follow it back to life; I know. Impossible, sometimes.

Pop-Up Poetry Trivia !!!

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Famous-Poems-quiz

Famous Poems: 20 Multiple-Choice Questions

1 / 20

"Poetry" is a famous poem by Pablo Neruda. What is the next line of this poem after "And it was at that age... Poetry arrived"?

2 / 20

"Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all." 

- Who is the author of this poem?

3 / 20

"The Moon" is a famous poem by Sappho. What is the next line of this poem after "But when you fail to meet me"?

4 / 20

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."

 - What is the title of this poem?

5 / 20

"Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me -"

- What is the next line of this poem?

6 / 20

"Do not go gentle into that good night,

 Old age should burn and rave at close of day; 

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

 

- Who is the author of this poem?

7 / 20

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, 

But I have promises to keep, 

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep."

 

 - What is the title of this poem?

8 / 20

"Daddy" is a famous poem by Sylvia Plath. What is the next line of this poem after "You do not do, you do not do / Any more, black shoe"?

9 / 20

"I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother."

- What is the next line of this poem by Langston Hughes?

10 / 20

"Because I could not be with you, I will write across the page the words I was too afraid to speak, I was too afraid to stay, I was too afraid to leave."

 

- What is the title of this poem?

11 / 20

"The Waste Land" is a famous poem by T.S. Eliot. What is the next line of this poem after "April is the cruellest month"?

12 / 20

"The Second Coming" is a famous poem by William Butler Yeats. What is the next line of this poem after "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold"?

13 / 20

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;" - What is the next line of this poem by T.S. Eliot?

14 / 20

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is a famous sonnet by William Shakespeare. What is the next line of this poem after "Thou art more lovely and more temperate:"?

15 / 20

"Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night;"

- What is the next line of this poem by William Blake?

16 / 20

"I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils."

 - What is the title of this poem?

17 / 20

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary," - What is the next line of this poem by Edgar Allan Poe?

18 / 20

"The End and the Beginning" is a famous poem by Wislawa Szymborska. What is the next line of this poem after "After every war / someone has to clean up"?

19 / 20

"O Captain! My Captain! 

our fearful trip is done, 

The ship has weathered every rack, 

the prize we sought is won."

 

 - Who is the author of this poem?

20 / 20

"And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."

 

 - What is the title of this poem?

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Forms-Of-Poetry-Quiz

Forms Of Poetry: 20 Multiple-Choice Questions

1 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of two lines, with the first line asking a question and the second line providing an answer?

2 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a series of eight-line stanzas, with a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-B-B-C-B-C?

3 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of a six-line stanza, with a rhyme scheme of A-A-B-B-C-C and a syllable count of 8-8-5-5-8-8?

4 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by six sestets and a final tercet, with a complex pattern of repeating end words?

5 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a poem that tells a story through a series of quatrains, with a rhyme scheme of ABAB?

6 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which each line contains the same number of syllables?

7 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by three stanzas of three lines each and a final quatrain?

8 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a five-line stanza with a syllable count of 2-4-6-8-2, and typically contains a humorous or witty twist at the end?

9 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a poem with three stanzas of three lines each, followed by a single four-line stanza, with a specific rhyme scheme and syllable count?

10 / 20

What is the name for a poetic form consisting of 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme and meter?

11 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which a speaker addresses someone or something that is absent or not able to respond?

12 / 20

Which of the following is NOT a form of Japanese poetry?

13 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a poem that describes or meditates on the natural world, often using vivid imagery and sensory language?

14 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms originated in ancient Greece and typically consists of a long narrative poem about heroic deeds?

15 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms originated in Italy?

16 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms consists of a series of six-line stanzas, with a specific rhyme scheme and the repetition of certain end words throughout the poem?

17 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which the first letter of each line spells out a word or phrase?

18 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of four-line stanzas, with a rhyme scheme of ABAB, typically used to express love or praise?

19 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-B?

20 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a repeated refrain, alternating with a series of quatrains, with a final quatrain as a coda?

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