Over the past twenty years, The Walrus has been a steady bellwether of must-read writing. For our 20th anniversary, we’ve collected works that still surprise us, impress us, move us.
Here are some of the best poems that we’ve published.
Three Poems
BY MICHAEL FRASER
A series about the lives and experiences of African Canadians who joined the Union army in the American Civil War
Tractor
BY KAREN SOLIE
It silences the arguments of every living thing / and our minds in that time are not entirely elsewhere
Lord Mayor Magpie
BY ERIC ORMSBY
There he waltzes, / this debonair / line dancer in mid-air
The Peace Lily
BY KAYLA CZAGA
To say the peace lily died / would be an understatement.
Theses on the Hydrology of Sweet Tea
BY LUCAS CRAWFORD
I pray only to wordplay. Am I wrong to fetishize fluidity? Strength?
In Cloud Country
BY MICHAEL PRIOR
Within our borders, / your hair frays cirrus into sky, while that bride, / so serious in every photo, never had to be you.
Waves
BY RICHARD GREENE
Rebuilding is a matter of cinder / block and thickets of rebar rising up / the mountain’s steep face.
