Poem-a-Day - Poems for Mother's Day

May 2020

Mother’s Day is May 9. Celebrate with kid-friendly poems about mothers and motherhood:

“Wonder Woman” by Angelo Geter
For as long as I can remember...

“Remember” by Joy Harjo
Remember the sky that you were born under...

“La suavecita” by Lupe Mendez
We dress my daughter in amarillo, not butter...

“The Raincoat” by Ada Limón
When the doctor suggested surgery...

“Hundreds of Purple Octopus Moms Are Super Weird, and They’re Doomed” by January Gill O’Neil
The article called it “a spectacle.” More like a garden than a nursery...

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Bring the work of AAPI poets into the classroom and browse lesson plans featuring work by Arthur Sze, Ocean Vuong, Emily Jungmin Yoon and many other classic and contemporary poets.

Plan ahead with poems for graduation

Spring: Poems for Kids

Celebrate Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month with poems to read and share:

“Music from Childhood” by John Yau
“Naturalization” by Jenny Xie
“From Blossoms” by Li-Young Lee
“The Floral Apron” by Marilyn Chin

Monday, April 5
Monday, April 12
Monday, April 19

Monday, April 26

“Radium Dream” by Sheila Black
“Disclosure” by Camisha L. Jones
“from Autobiography/Anti-Autobiography” by Jennifer Bartlett
“I Know My Soul” by Claude McKay

This month’s poetic term is aubade, a dawn song that greets the morning while lamenting the end of the night. Read more.

Marilyn Chin’s poem “Blues on Yellow” was recently featured in “Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast.” In the conversation, the hosts discuss the history of anti-Asian hatred and violence in the United States, the struggles for cross-community solidarity, and the resonances of the poem’s use of the blues form.

Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets Alicia Ostriker published a new translation of “New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. Pair the translation with an essay by Ostriker on immigration, and the accompanying lesson plan, ‘Teach This Poem: ‘The New Colossus’ by Emma Lazarus.”

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

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Poem-a-Day - Poems for Mother's Day

Older messages

"'Pages 1-4,' an excerpt from The Ferguson Report: An Erasure” by Nicole Sealey

"Parable of the Unclean Spirit" by Sara Eliza Johnson

Poems for Mother's Day & Remembering, Emma Lazarus Project, and more

"It’s Important I Remember that the Moral Arc of the Universe Bends—" by Cortney Lamar Charleston

"Fire-Flowers" by Emily Pauline Johnson

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