In addition to flowers, poems are an increasingly popular gift shared on Mother’s Day. To assist you in picking the perfect poem, the Academy of American Poets has compiled ten perennially popular poems from its collection for the upcoming special occasion:
Classic
Edgar Allan Poe, "To My Mother"
Lola Ridge, "Mother"
Robert Louis Stevenson, "To My Mother"
Elizabeth Akers Allen, "Rock Me to Sleep"
Edna St. Vincent Millay, "The courage that my mother had"
Contemporary
Wanda Coleman, "Dear Mama (4)"
May Sarton, "For My Mother"
Lucille Clifton, "My Mama moved among the days"
Erin Belieu, "Another Poem for Mothers"
Richard Blanco, "Translation for Mamá"
Visit our curated collection of more than 100 additional poems for Mother’s Day or our selection of meaningful lines to share in your own personalized, poetic greeting.
About the Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is our nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry. The organization produces Poets.org, one of the most popular poetry resources online; National Poetry Month; the widely-read Poem-a-Day series; American Poets magazine; Teach This Poem and other resources for K-12 educators; an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and it awards more funds to poets than any other organization. It also coordinates the work of a national Poetry Coalition working to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds.