Photograph of Earth From Space • National Poetry Month

Photograph of Earth

From Space

On the outskirts of Luanda, Angola,

Gerald Nduma has walked an hour to school

carrying his chair, which is really

an empty coffee can. Nine years old,

 he holds in his other hand a mango which

will be his lunch.At school,

which is really a tree, Gerald

places his lunch beneath his chair.

This day, a missionary has come

With magazines. Gerald takes what

is given him. Soon he does not hear

the teacher’s instructions. He does not hear

the students’ chatter. He is looking

at the photograph of Earth

floating in a dark sea

which Gerald imagines

is plenteous with fish.

By Pamela Porter

Courtesy Poets.ca

The League of Canadian Poets

Migration • National Poetry Month

It's Poem in Your Pocket Day! Print multiple copies of this poem and keep one copy in your pocket, then scatter the rest.

Leave them on your desk, or on the train. Put them in the lunch room. Hand them to strangers or friends. Share them liberally.

Migration

The police squint 

into the glare on the water looking 

for small boats. On a clear day 

the lightkeeper sees all the way 

to Algeria. Over his sofa 

hangs a tapestry woven 

by his grandmother from red 

human hair. Only the birds 

travel without papers. 

Though often now 

their tiny legs 

when they perch 

on the lighthouse railings 

are colour banded.

by Eleonore Schönmaier

courtesy poets.ca
The League of Canadian Poets