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Poetry Resources

We use poetry as a jumping-off point for our fall meetings and have been asked to share example poems for some of our exercises! Please enjoy, and if you have examples poems to share (we want to include as many diverse voices and styles as possible) please share here.

Contemporary poetry is a changing landscape and we know it is difficult for anyone much less busy teachers to keep abreast of new work. At the same time, contemporary poetry is often the voice of the moment, and we hope to tantalize young readers with the possibilities in front of them!

These categories represent the main focus of each poem, though not necessarily the only focus. If a poem fits into more than one category, it will be listed as such. Each of these recommended poems have been hand-selected by our team, with an emphasis on diverse representation. To find out more about these poets and to view more of their work, and even to discover poets that are not on this list, try heading to the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Foundation and exploring their databases.

*Poems published by Tupelo Press.

Place

  1. “Welcome to the Dollar Store” by Kristin Bock, from Glass Bikini*
  2. “Felt Flowers” by Noah Baldino
  3. “Accidental Pastoral” by Maggie Smith, from Glass Bones*
  4. “Bordersong” by Rohan Chhetri, from lost, hurt, or in transit beautiful*
  5. “California” by Raphael Campo
  6. “Red-Crowned Crane” by Linda Sue Park
  7. “My Brother’s Funeral Pallet is an Explosion of Flowers” by Nehassaiu deGannes, from Music For Exile*
  8. “Directions” by Billy Collins

People, Persona, and Character

  1. “The Woman Who Turned Down A Date With A Cherry Farmer” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, from Miracle Fruit*
  2. “All-American” by David Hernandez, from Dear, Sincerely
  3. “Gloves” by José Angel Araguz
  4. “My Father’s Book of Days” by Nehassaiu deGannes, from Music For Exile*
  5. “My Daughter Quarantined in the Basement” by Nicole Cooley
  6. “Ode For My Montana Grandmother” by Laurel Nakashani, from Ashore*
  7. “Leviathan” by Amy Beeder, from And So Wax Was Made & Also Honey*
  8. “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee, from Rose
  9. “Ancestral Lines” by David Ferry
  10. “Ode” by Jane Huffman
  11. “Besaydoo” by Yalie Kamara

Community

  1. “Culture and the Universe” by Simon J. Ortiz, from Native Voices: Indigenous American Poetry, Craft and Conversations*
  2. “From the Taiwan Cypress in Alishan” by Jennifer Huang
  3. “[Llandeilo Churchyard (I)]” by G. C. Waldrep, from The Earliest Witness*
  4. “Waikīkī Diptych” by Laurel Nakashani, from Ashore*
  5. “In This Place (An American Lyric)” by Amanda Gorman, from Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Database
  6. “The Language of Joy” by Jacqueline Allen Trimble
  7. “Choose Your Own America” by Jon Davis, from Pandemia in Four Quartets: Poetry in the Pandemic*

Descriptive

  1. “One Bite” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, from Miracle Fruit*
  2. “X” by Lee Sharkey, from I Will Name It Except To Say*
  3. “Museum” by Maggie Smith, from Good Bones*
  4. “Bordersong” by Rohan Chhetri, from lost, hurt, or in transit beautiful*
  5. “Against Ekphrasis” by Alan Michael Parker, from The Age of Discovery*
  6. “Ode to the Coronavirus” by Jon Davis, from Pandemia in Four Quartets: Poetry in the Pandemic*

Prose Poetry

  1. “The Shark” by Laurel Nakashani, from Ashore*
  2. “Welcome to the Dollar Store” by Kristin Bock, from Glass Bikini*
  3. “Denizen (West Stow Orchard)” by G. C. Waldrep, from The Earliest Witness*
  4. “The Central Bus Station” by Matthew Schultz, from What Came Before*

List Poems

  1. “Things That Ache My Heart” by Tess Harvester
  2. “Song of Myself” by Walt Witman, from Leaves of Grass
  3. Jubilate Agno, Fragment B, [For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry]  Christopher Smart 1722 –  1771
  4. When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities
  5. Cherry BlossomsToi Derricotte 
  6. Mercy Tyehimba Jess
  7. Ways to Disappear Camile Rankine
  8. Inheritance Camile Rankine
  9. A Description of the Sea for Lina Lenzi Who Has Never Seen It Ned O’Gorman
  10. The Red Wheelbarrow William Carlos Williams