The following poems explore the themes of immigration and heritage and are appropriate for young people.

lesson plans about immigration

more poems for kids

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian
While they wait in long lines, legs shifting...

“Mother Country” by Richard Blanco
To love a country as if you've lost one: 1968...

“Translation for Mamá” by Richard Blanco
What I’ve written for you, I have always written...

“The Floral Apron” by Marilyn Chin
The woman wore a floral apron around her neck...

“A Way of Seeing” by Kwame Dawes
It all comes from this dark dirt...

“On How to Use This Book” by Sarah Gambito
You deserve your beautiful life...

“We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born” by Oscar Gonzales
What remains of my childhood...

“breaking away to the u.s.” by José B. González
finally...

“Before Your Arrival” by Ellen Hagan
the ones who brought your father here, come.. Bring…

“Everyday We Get More Illegal” by Juan Felipe Herrera
Yet the peach tree...

“Veterans of Foreign Wars” by Edward Hirsch
Let’s not forget the General…

“Old Arrivals” by Galway Kinnell
Molded in verdigris...

“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame...

“I Ask My Mother to Sing” by Li-Young Lee
She begins, and my grandmother joins her...

“Amphibians” by Joseph O. Legaspi
Amphibians live in both…

“Maps” by Yesenia Montilla
Some maps have blue borders...

“Red Brocade” by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Arabs used to say...

“Mediterranean Blue” by Naomi Shihab Nye
If you are a child of a refugee, you do not...

“Things We Carry on the Sea” by Wang Ping
We carry tears in our eyes: good-bye, father...

“The Great Migration” by Minnie Bruce Pratt
The third question in Spanish class is: De donde eres tú?...

“The Border: A Double Sonnet” by Alberto Ríos
The border is a line that birds cannot see...

“The Buttonhook” by Mary Jo Salter
President Roosevelt, touring Ellis Island…

“Peaches” by Adrienne Su
A crate of peaches straight from the farm...

“Citizenship” by Javier Zamora
it was clear they were hungry...

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