New York, NY (May 7, 2020)— On Mother’s Day this year, many of us will need to remain at home, making it difficult to visit loved ones in person. Because poems are an increasingly popular gift given on the occasion, the Academy of American Poets and Poets.org invite you to instead share a poem from our collection on mothers and motherhood:

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)”
Ada Limón, “The Raincoat”
Lucille Clifton, “My Mama moved among the days”
Li-Young Lee, “I Ask My Mother to Sing”
Juan Felipe Herrera, “My Mother’s Name Lucha”

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 the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with members in all fifty states. Founded in 1934, the organization produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; organizes National Poetry Month; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; distributes the American Poets Prizes; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture. This year, through its prize program, the organization has awarded more funds to individual poets than any other organization, giving a total of $1,250,000 to poets at various stages of their careers. In addition, the Academy is part of Artist Relief, a national, multidisciplinary coalition of seven arts grantmakers and a consortium of foundations working to provide funding to the country’s individual poets, writers, and artists who are impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.