FIND A LESSON in our new
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TO START THE NEW YEAR, WRITE EVERY MORNING. Start with an aubade.

aubade
(oh – bahd’)
from the French for dawn

a lyric poem about the dawn, set at dawn, or a morning serenade. The theme of an aubade is traditionally about the parting of lovers, a standard example is the lark scene in Act 3 sc 5 of Romeo and Juliet. Many scholars consider the alba to be an early form of an aubade.

"I make myself write. I write every day, and I get up and write into the light."—Peter Cooley

example: Peter Cooley’s “Your Own Hours”

Check out poetical forms
under poetical terms

Poem a Day button
This section includes a a different poem for each day of the school year complete with cross curricular lesson plans. Simply click on a highlighted date below.


Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
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Student Contests button
LA Writes!
Resources button
poets.org
riverofwords.org





Favorite Poems
is a place to share a favorite poem about Louisiana or by a Louisiana poet. If you have a favorite poem, or find one on this site that resonates with you, please e-mail louisianapoetryproject@gmail.com with the title of the poem and the reason why it is a favorite. If we have the rights to post that poem, we will post it along with your comments. If we don’t have the rights and cannot secure them, we will just post your response.



I have a thousand favorite poems, and Darrell Bourque's "Scratch" is among them. I pictured the left side of the shotgun house I called home as a child as I listened to him reading it. In the second room, one cedar chifforobe's lock worked, one didn't. I also remember my brother carving his initials into the one with no lock, and swearing that "EC" was not him. I don't remember his punishment, just the fact that I still tease him after all these years. –Jan Ellis



"Jubilee” is my favorite poem because it reminds me that no matter what people go through, we are made to have resilient spirits and a celebration always lives in our heart. Thanks Aunt Pat. -Nedra Ward



I really have several favorite poets but Darrell is my choice. I have known Darrell Bourque as a person and poet since the 1990s. He has always been accessible and given great retreats and master classes. My favorite poem of his is from The Blue Boat collection. The title is "Bone Fire.” I love the humor in the section that talks to his mother's concern about him losing weight. I heard him read this poem in 2004 or 2005 and I loved the inflections in his voice when he read it. I also love how the poem was crafted to fit the quote at the beginning.—Alice Lewis



I appreciate the stillness Darrell Bourque’s poem, “Quietism” creates. It gives me a place to go, like a little nook, and reflect.—Alice Murchison



This portion from John Gery’s poem “The Burning of New Orleans” speaks to me, especially the ending. I want to “dance with truth, confusion, blindness, histories, fidelities, and kindness.” This poem has taken on a different meaning to me since 2005. I remember a different, but no less devastating, leaving of New Orleans and seeing that same naked bareness in the people in the cars next to ours.—Laurie Williams