Poem-a-Day - Poems for Presidents' Day and more

February 15, 2022

Presidents’ Day

Reflect this upcoming Presidents’ Day by reading and sharing past presidential inaugural poems:

2021: Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”
2013: Richard Blanco, “One Today”
2009: Elizabeth Alexander, “Praise Song for the Day”
1997: Miller Williams, “Of History and Hope”
1993: Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning”
1961: Robert Frost, “The Gift Outright”

Celebrate Black History Month

Browse essays, photographs, important books on Black history and poetics, lesson plans, archival letters from classic Black poets, and more.

Dear Poet Project

The Academy of American Poets invites students in grades five through twelve to participate in Dear Poet 2022, an annual multimedia education project featuring videos of award-winning poets reading their work, including poets who serve on the Academy of American Poets’ Board of Chancellors and who have received Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships. Learn more about Dear Poet 2022 and participate in the project.

2022 Blaney Lecture with Paisley Rekdal

Join us on Wednesday, February 23, at 4 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. EST for the 2022 Blaney Lecture, “Beyond Empathy, Beyond the Archive: Notes on Poetic Representation,” delivered by Utah Poet Laureate and 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow Paisley Rekdal. This virtual event is free to attend. A Q&A session will follow the lecture. ASL interpretation will be provided.

The lecture was created in memory of former Academy of American Poets Board member Dr. Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney, past president of Cedar Crest College and champion of women and education, by a gift from her estate.

“Fine art, poetry, story, song—we use them all to share our truths and build strong bonds with our communities and with each other.”

—Read this interview with 2021 Poet Laureate Fellow, Kari Gunter-Seymour, on her work in Ohio.

Apply for the 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships

The Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships are $50,000 awards given to honor poets of literary merit appointed to serve in civic positions. The awards enable them to undertake meaningful, impactful, and innovative projects that engage their fellow residents, including youth, with poetry, helping to address issues important to their communities, as well as create new work. We are accepting applications for the 2022 fellowships until February 18, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Find out more here.

South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts

Congratulations to Ed Madden, poet laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, and 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, on receiving South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts this year. For his fellow project, Madden launched “Telling the Stories of the City,” a project that incorporated local and youth voices, built on community-based workshops, and created an interactive story map of the city. Read more about Madden, plus poems, here.

Deadline Today: Third Annual Zoeglossia Retreat

Poetry Coalition founding member Zoeglossia is seeking fellows for its third annual retreat, which provides disabled poets with professional development, community, craft talks, and workshops. Faculty will include Raymond Antrobus, Meg Day, Kay Ulanday Barrett, and Travis Chi Wing Lau. Registration to the 2022 retreat, which will be held virtually from May 11 to May 15, is free. Applications will be accepted until tonight, February 15, at 11:59 pm EST.

Watch Adeeba Shahid Talukder read Faisal Mohyuddin’s “Ghazal for the Diaspora” as part of the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation’s Read By series of poetry films.

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: CLMP’s Inaugural Constellation Award

Check out our #PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: a celebration of the presses honored by CLMP’s inaugural Constellation Award, featuring readings by 2018 Ambroggio Prize winner Raquel Salas Rivera, Ayodele Nzinga, Krystal A. Smith, Matt Sedillo, and Salomé Marejada. Thursday, February 17, at 6 p.m. EST. Register for this free, virtual event here.

Deadline Today: American Poets Prizes

Submissions to the 2022 Ambroggio Prize, given for a book-length poetry manuscript in Spanish and with an English translation; the 2022 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, given for a poetry collection translated from any language into English; and, the 2022 Raiziss/de Palchi Book Prize, given for the translation into English of a significant work of modern Italian poetry, will be closing tonight, February 15, at 11:59 pm EST.

Bookshop.org in Brooklyn, New York, is seeking a full-time marketing associate to develop and execute successful marketing campaigns. To apply, send a resume and cover letter to jobs@bookshop.org with “Marketing Associate” in the subject line.
University of the District of Columbia is seeking a full-time, tenure-track assistant or associate professor in creative writing.

Listen to John Murillo discuss his curatorial approach and his own creative work. The author of Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020), Murillo is Poem-a-Day guest editor for February.

Revisit last week’s Poem-a-Day selections with us on Poets.org:

February 6: “Joy” by Clarissa Scott Delaney
February 7: “On ‘Phantasmagorique #15,’ a Painting by Kathy Goodell” by Garrett Hongo
February 8: “Last Mattress” by Marilyn Nelson
February 9: “Wake Up, Mario” by Martín Espada
February 10: “Revisionary” by Robert Pinsky
February 11: “[The whale already]” by Kimiko Hahn
February 12: “Length of Moon” by Arna Bontemps

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Poem-a-Day - Poems for Presidents' Day and more

Presidents’ Day

Older messages

"Late Afternoon Stroll on the Cliffs" by Laure-Anne Bosselaar

"Crossing the Line" by E. Ethelbert Miller

"Trees at Night" by Helene Johnson

"Length of Moon" by Arna Bontemps

"[The whale already]" by Kimiko Hahn

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