Poem-a-Day - Get Ready for National Poetry Month!

March 2025

get ready for National Poetry Month!

Encourage your students to participate in Dear Poet 2025!

Through Dear Poet, the Academy’s interactive multimedia project, your students will write letters directly to award-winning contemporary poets, in response to a special series of recorded videos featuring the poets reading their work. All students will receive a general response from the poet to whom they wrote, as well as a certificate honoring their participation. During National Poetry Month, five student letters will be selected for a personalized response.

Students in grades five through twelve can participate through April 24.

Start the Dear Poet Project

The 2025 National Poetry Month poster is here!

Educators, librarians, and poetry lovers of all ages can order a free copy of this year’s National Poetry Month poster, designed by New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator Christy Mandin and featuring powerful lines by former Academy Chancellor Naomi Shihab Nye: “This is the world I want to live in. The shared world.” A lesson plan featuring Nye’s poem will be available through the Academy’s Teach This Poem newsletter on March 17, 2025.

Order your free copy to display before the request line closes on April 14 and bring National Poetry Month to life.

order your free poster

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Penguin Young Readers

Get ready to celebrate National Poetry Month with your students with the Penguin Young Readers interactive booklist! There is a book for every reader, classroom, and library. (Sponsored)

Poem in Your Pocket Day is on April 10!

Every National Poetry Month we invite poetry lovers everywhere to celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day. To take part, select a poem from our specially curated Poem in Your Pocket Day PDF, carry it in your pocket to share with others throughout the day, and show us how you’re celebrating on social media using the hashtag #PocketPoem.

pick a #PocketPoem

What words do we carry with us? This Spark from 826 Digital introduces students to the Poem in Your Pocket Day celebration and invites them to create a pocket-sized poetry zine. Teach it to join in the celebration of carrying and sharing poetry on April 10, 2025!

poems for Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month—this month and year-round, celebrate with the following classic and contemporary poems for kids:

“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
“A Woman Sleeps on an Island” by Marjorie Agosín, translated by Cola Franzen
“sisters” by Lucille Clifton
“Bogeymen” by Amanda Johnston
“Survival Guide” by Joy Ladin
“How to Triumph Like a Girl” by Ada Limón
“Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye
“This Body II” by Renée Watson

teach this poem

Monday, February 3

Monday, February 10

Monday, February 17

Monday, February 24

“Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)” by Nikki Giovanni

“What Space Faith Can Occupy” by TC Tolbert

“Labor” by Jericho Brown

“Losing the 440-Yard Dash” by Afaa Michael Weaver

Materials for Teachers

Lesson Plans for Women’s History Month

Teachers, thank you for your work bringing poetry into the classroom year-round. We’re happy to be able to offer hundreds of free lesson plans, essays, and other resources, and we wish you and your students health and safety.

The Academy of American Poets

75 Maiden Lane

STE #901

New York, NY 10038

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Poem-a-Day - Get Ready for National Poetry Month!

Older messages

“U-Pick Orchards” by Danusha Laméris

“Prose in a Small Space” by Rita Dove

“Loom Poem,” by Jake Skeets

“Olympus” by Matthew Olzmann

“In this Poem, We Will Not Glorify Sunrise” by Sarah Freligh

You Might Also Like

“‘How old is Maggie?’” by Jennifer L. Knox

Ben Affleck is not an ATM

Trump's Mounting Economic Problems and his Tone Deaf Tesla Stunt

An Alexandria That Didn't Make It

7 Home Improvement Projects You Can Do in 1 Day

Sauna & Birthday

watch: spring equinox savour session

Transform your home with ease! Enter to win $25K!

Eater Staff’s favorite pie recipes for pi day

Where the War on Abortion Pills Is Headed