“This is the Song the World Needs Now” is a poem by Nova Macknik-Conde, age 8. The poem is composed of nine lines. The poem is written in a combination of Spanish and English. Each line begins with either “Esta es la canción,” which translates to “This is the song,” or “Una canción,” which translates to “a song.” Generally, each line also ends on a Spanish word, but it doesn’t always. In many of the lines, the middle words are in English. The song sounds like esperanza (hope), teaches fuerza (force), makes you feel felicidad (happy).
How does this writer play with poetic forms?
Though this poem is not a sonnet or a haiku, it still follows many formal “rules” that help keep it more organized. These rules aren’t hard and fast, but rather are more like habits the poem follows. By choosing to adhere to these organizing principles, the writer creates a poem that almost feels like the song it is describing.
This is written in a style called “monostitch,” which means that each line forms its own stanza and no two lines are close together. Each monostitch line starts with a capital letter indicating the beginning of a sentence, but there is generally not punctuation at the end of the lines, except the second-to-last line, which ends with an ellipsis ( . . . ). Together, these factors help create a floaty feeling, like listening to soft music.
Another musical aspect of the poem is the poet’s use of something called slant rhyme. A direct rhyme occurs when the vowels and consonants of the final syllable of two words match. Esperanza and fuerza in the poem are a good example of a direct rhyme—both end with “za.” A slant rhyme occurs when the final syllables of two words almost line up, and sound like they line up. Take, for example, “felicidad” and “salud.” They both end with a d, but besides that, the final syllables have different vowels and consonants. Slant rhymes can produce a musical effect that is more subtle than a direct rhyme.
Another technique the writer employs here, to great effect, is called “anaphora.” An anaphora is a repeated word or phrase. In the case of this poem, the writer repeats “canción” near the start of each line. But she also repeats other words and structures:
Una canción that makes you feel felicidad
Una canción that smells like salud
Una canción that holds you like amabilidad
Una canción that makes you move like agua
These lines translate to “The song that makes you feel happy / the song that smells like health / the song that holds you like kindness / the song that makes you move like water.” Not only does each line repeat the words “canción” and “that,” but they also repeat their very structure: each is a simile comparing the song to something else.
In poems, we often learn a lot from the moments where the writer breaks the pattern. Four of this poem’s nine lines do something a little bit different than the rest. At the start of the poem, the writer makes a direct statement:
Esta es la canción the world needs now
This is the song the world needs now. It’s not a song like anything. It doesn’t smell like anything or look like anything or hold you like anything. Rather, in this moment the song is just the song, and we talk about it as a whole.
Another unique line comes toward the middle:
Una canción that teaches fuerza
A song that teaches strength. Once again, the song isn’t like anything—instead, it’s something active, and it’s teaching us something.
The second-to-last line is a repetition of the first line, “Esta es la canción the world needs now.” The repetition reminds us of the repeated phrases throughout the rest of the poem, and helps build a sort of music. Finally, we end on a softer line:
Una canción que consuela
A song that comforts.
Discussion questions:
- Throughout the poem, the poet describes a song. But the song itself is not so clear to us. What do you think is the song the poet is describing? Or is it any song at all?
- Why do you think the writer chose to switch between English and Spanish in this poem? How does it affect your experience of reading it?
This is the Song the World Needs Now
Esta es la canción the world needs now
Una canción that sounds like esperanza
Una canción that teaches fuerza
Una canción that makes you feel felicidad
Una canción that smells like salud
Una canción that holds you like amabilidad
Una canción that makes you move like agua
Esta es la canción the world needs now. . .
Una canción que consuela
Brooklyn, NY
