Browse poems addressing different ways in which culture, family, history, and identity intersect.
“The African Picnic” by Elizabeth Alexander
World Cup finals, France v. Brasil…
"Victory" by Sherman Alexie
When I was twelve, I shoplifted a pair...
“The Tradition” by Jericho Brown
Aster. Nasturtium. Delphinium. We thought…
“Mango Poem” by Regie Cabico
Mother fetches the fruit from the mango grove…
“In the City” by Chen Chen
These bridges are a feat of engineering…
“We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born” by Oscar Gonzales
What remains of my childhood…
“We Should Make a Documentary About Spades” by Terrance Hayes
And here is all we’ll need: a card deck, quartets of sun people…
“Five Directions to My House” by Juan Felipe Herrera
Go back to the grain yellow hills...
“History” by Linda Hogan
This is the word that is always bleeding…
“Amphibians” by Joseph O. Legaspi
Amphibians live in both…
“Thompson and Seaman Vows, African Union Church” by Marilyn Nelson
Miss Charlotte Thompson, daughter of Ada…
“The Buttonhook” by Mary Jo Salter
President Roosevelt, touring Ellis Island...
“Peaches” by Adrienne Su
A crate of peaches straight from the farm…
“For My People” by Margaret Walker
For my people everywhere singing their slave songs…
“Carrying Our Words” by Ofelia Zepeda
We travel carrying our words…
Find more poems curated by theme on our Poems for Kids page, which features many poems suitable for teen readers.