Browse poems exploring many different kinds of family relationships and addressing complicated, often conflicting feelings about family.
“Mermaid Song” by Kim Addonizio
Damp-haired from the bath…
“Translation for Mamá” by Richard Blanco
What I’ve written for you, I have always written…
“Prayer of the Backhanded” by Jericho Brown
Not the palm, not the pear tree…
“sisters” by Lucille Clifton
me and you be sisters...
“What I Mean When I Say Truck Driver” by Geffrey Davis
During the last 50 miles from haul…
“Abeyance” by Rebecca Foust
I made soup tonight, with cabbage, chard…
“Knoxville, Tennessee” by Nikki Giovanni
I always like summer…
“The Woodlice” by Aracelis Girmay
The beauty of one sister…
“Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo
The world begins at a kitchen table…
“The Blue Dress” by Saeed Jones
Her blue dress is a silk train is a river…
“The Red Sweater” by Joseph O. Legaspi
slides down into my body, soft…
“Images” by Jaime Manrique
I’ve spent a whole afternoon looking at photographs…
“When Giving Is All We Have” by Alberto Ríos
We give because someone gave to us…
“For My Mother” by May Sarton
Once more…
“Duet” by Lisa Russ Spaar
Two sisters side by side...
“Kissing in Vietnamese” by Ocean Vuong
My grandmother kisses…
Find more poems curated by theme on our Poems for Kids page, which features many poems suitable for teen readers.