Cant by Edgar Albert Guest

Cant by Edgar Albert Guest

by | May 21, 2025 | Life Poems, Poems, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry, Sad Poems

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Can’t is the worst word that’s written or spoken;
Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
On it is many a strong spirit broken,
And with it many a good purpose dies.
It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning
And robs us of courage we need through the day:
It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning
And laughs when we falter and fall by the way.

Can’t is the father of feeble endeavor,
The parent of terror and half-hearted work;
It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
It poisons the soul of the man with a vision,
It stifles in infancy many a plan;
It greets honest toiling with open derision
And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a man.

Can’t is a word none should speak without blushing;
To utter it should be a symbol of shame;
Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;
It blights a man’s purpose and shortens his aim.
Despise it with all of your hatred of error;
Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain;
Arm against it as a creature of terror,
And all that you dream of you some day shall gain.

Can’t is the word that is foe to ambition,
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
Its prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and skill.
Hate it, with hatred that’s deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed ’twill break any man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: “I can.”

Cant by Edgar albert Guest emeraldbookclub.org
The Owl and the Pussy Cat by Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussy Cat by Edward Lear

by | May 12, 2025 | Animal Poems, Emerald Book Club, Life Poems, Love Poems, Marriage Poems, Poems, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry, Romantic Poems

The Owl and The Pussy Cat

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

   In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

   Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

   And sang to a small guitar,

“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

    What a beautiful Pussy you are,

         You are,

         You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!

   How charmingly sweet you sing!

O let us be married! too long we have tarried:

   But what shall we do for a ring?”

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

   To the land where the Bong-Tree grows

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

   With a ring at the end of his nose,

             His nose,

             His nose,

   With a ring at the end of his nose.

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

   Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”

So they took it away, and were married next day

   By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

   Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

   They danced by the light of the moon,

             The moon,

             The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

World Book Day Celebrations

World Book Day Celebrations

by | Feb 25, 2025 | Book Reviews, Books, Community Events, Emerald Book Club, Events, Poetry, Stories

Celebrate World Book Day 2025 with Emerald Book Club!

World Book Day 2025 is just around the corner, and Emerald Book Club is excited to bring you a full day of literary fun on March 6th! This year, we are celebrating with engaging activities across multiple platforms—WhatsApp, Facebook, Discord, and TikTok—to connect book lovers worldwide. Our theme, Celebrate Stories, Inspire Readers, is all about embracing the joy of reading and sharing it with others.

Join us for an unforgettable day filled with poetry, storytelling, quizzes, word games, and live discussions. Here’s everything you need to know about our World Book Day schedule:

📅 Event Schedule & Activities

📖 WhatsApp (9:00 AM – 11:00 AM GMT) – “Morning Book Club”

Start your day with an engaging discussion on books and reading habits!

  • 📌 Icebreaker: Share your current read in one sentence.
  • 📌 Quick Fire Word Game: Create a mini story using three given words.
  • 📌 Book Quote Challenge: Identify the book from a famous quote.
    🎤 Host: Joweriah and Joshua
    📍 WhatsApp Group Chat

📚 Facebook (1:00 PM – 3:00 PM GMT) – “Afternoon Story Time”

Join us for live storytelling and exciting book discussions!

  • 📌 Live Storytelling: Listen to members reading short stories or excerpts.
  • 📌 Book Trivia Quiz: Test your book knowledge with fun questions.
  • 📌 Poll: Vote for the next book club read.
    🎤 Host: Emerald Book Club
    📍 Facebook Live & Group Posts

🎤 Discord (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT) – “Evening Poetry & Debates”

A night of poetry, storytelling, and engaging literary discussions.

  • 📌 Poetry Open Mic: Share original or favorite poems.
  • 📌 Interactive Storytelling: Members build a story together.
  • 📌 Debate Corner: Discuss hot topics like “Print vs Digital Books.”
    🎤 Host: Joshua
    📍 Emerald Book Club Discord Server (Voice & Text Channels)

📱 TikTok (All Day) – “Read, Create, Inspire”

Get creative and share your love for books with the world!

  • 📌 #ReadWithEmerald: Post 30-sec clips of your current reads.
  • 📌 BookTok Challenge: Fun trends like “Describe a book in 3 words.”
  • 📌 Live Q&A with a Book Enthusiast (If Possible)
    🎤 Host: Emerald Book Club
    📍 Emerald Book Club TikTok Page

📢 Get Involved & Spread the Word!

World Book Day Emerald Book Day

We invite all book lovers, writers, and literary enthusiasts to join us for this fantastic celebration. Let’s come together to inspire each other, share stories, and make World Book Day 2025 truly memorable!

📅 Save the date: March 6, 2025
📍 Join us on WhatsApp, Facebook, Discord, and TikTok
🔗 Follow us for updates and participation details!

Let’s celebrate the power of books together! 📚✨

Defeat by Khalil Gibran

Defeat by Khalil Gibran

by | Jan 27, 2025 | Life Poems, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry, Sad Poems, Wisdom Poems

Poetic Flows Podcast emeraldbookclub.org

🔉 – POETIC FLOWS PODCAST

Defeat

By Kahlil Gibran
Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;
You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,
And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory.

Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,
Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot
And not to be trapped by withering laurels.
And in you I have found aloneness
And the joy of being shunned and scorned.

Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,
In your eyes I have read
That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
And to be understood is to be leveled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness
And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.

Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,
You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,
And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,
And urging of seas,
And of mountains that burn in the night,
And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.

Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,
You and I shall laugh together with the storm,
And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,
And we shall stand in the sun with a will,
And we shall be dangerous.

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Good Books by Edgar Guest

Good Books by Edgar Guest

by | Jan 20, 2025 | Book Poems, Books, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry, Reading Poems

Good Books
by
Edgar Guest

Good books are friendly things to own.
If you are busy they will wait.
They will not call you on the phone
Or wake you if the hour is late.
They stand together row by row,
Upon the low shelf or the high.
But if you’re lonesome this you know:
You have a friend or two nearby.

The fellowship of books is real.
They’re never noisy when you’re still.
They won’t disturb you at your meal.
They’ll comfort you when you are ill.
The lonesome hours they’ll always share.
When slighted they will not complain.
And though for them you’ve ceased to care
Your constant friends they’ll still remain.

Good books your faults will never see
Or tell about them round the town.
If you would have their company
You merely have to take them down.
They’ll help you pass the time away,
They’ll counsel give if that you need.
He has true friends for night and day
Who has a few good books to read.

Year’s End by Richard Wilbur

Year’s End by Richard Wilbur

by | Jan 1, 2025 | Life Poems, Nature Poems, Poems, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry, Winter Poems

Year’s End by Richard Wilbur

Now winter downs the dying of the year,   

And night is all a settlement of snow;

From the soft street the rooms of houses show   

A gathered light, a shapen atmosphere,   

Like frozen-over lakes whose ice is thin   

And still allows some stirring down within.

I’ve known the wind by water banks to shake

The late leaves down, which frozen where they fell   

And held in ice as dancers in a spell   

Fluttered all winter long into a lake;   

Graved on the dark in gestures of descent,   

They seemed their own most perfect monument.

There was perfection in the death of ferns   

Which laid their fragile cheeks against the stone   

A million years. Great mammoths overthrown   

Composedly have made their long sojourns,   

Like palaces of patience, in the gray

And changeless lands of ice. And at Pompeii

The little dog lay curled and did not rise   

But slept the deeper as the ashes rose

And found the people incomplete, and froze   

The random hands, the loose unready eyes   

Of men expecting yet another sun

To do the shapely thing they had not done.

These sudden ends of time must give us pause.   

We fray into the future, rarely wrought

Save in the tapestries of afterthought.

More time, more time. Barrages of applause   

Come muffled from a buried radio.

The New-year bells are wrangling with the snow.

Copyright Credit: Richard Wilbur, “Year’s End” from Collected Poems 1943-2004