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Note: the poems listed here are linked to off site sources, including a selection from FCC academic sources (Ebscohost). Students will need to use their FCC user+pass to access these poems.
COMING OF AGE & IDENTITY
- “homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49487/homage-to-my-hips - “Hello Beautiful” by Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha (poem and poetry out loud performance video):
https://poets.org/poem/hello-beautiful - “Incident” by Countee Cullen
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42618/incident-56d2213a45f36 - “The Girl Who Loved the Sky” by Anita Endrezze
http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/anita/poems/sky.html - “For a Daughter Who Leaves” by Janice Mirikitani
https://poets.org/poem/daughter-who-leaves
“First Love” by John Clare
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50263/first-love-56d22d33757cd - “Adolescence” by Adrienne Su
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53682/adolescence-56d23333e10b1 - “In Mrs. Tilcher’s Class” by Carol Ann Duffy
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/in-mrs-tilschers-class/ - “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/28112/we-real-cool
Audio of author reading poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaVfLwZ6jes - “Wayward” youth“Adolescence” by Claude McKay
https://poets.org/poem/adolescence - “Immigrant Blues” Li-Young Lee
CONFLICT (WAR)
- “The Bombing of Baghdad” by June Jordan
- “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa
- “The African Burial Ground” by Yusef Komunyakaa
- “Grenade” by Yusef Komunyakaa (Audio only)
- “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen
- “Does It Matter?” by Siegfried Sassoon (Includes audio)
- “Crazy Horse Monument” by Peter Blue Cloud (Includes biographical and background information)
- “Woman and War” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- “What Every Soldier Should Know” by Brian Turner
- “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell
FATHERS AND CHILDREN
- “21” by Patrick Roche
Spoken Word performance through Button Poetry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LnMhy8kDiQ - “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43330/my-papas-waltz - “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin (song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUwjNBjqR-c - “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46461/those-winter-sundays - “Little Father” by Li-Young Lee
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46472/little-father - “The Portrait” by Stanley Kunitz
https://poets.org/poem/portrait - “Walking with my Father” by Linda Hogan
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57880/walking-with-my-father - “My Father’s Hats” by Mark Irwin
https://poets.org/poem/my-fathers-hats: - “Dance with My Father” by Luther Vandross
Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmDxJrggie8 - “My Father’s Sadness” by Shirley Geok-lin Lim
https://www.coursehero.com/file/53523651/My-Fathers-Sadnesspoempdf/
GENDER
- “How to Be a Man” By Simar Singh (audio only):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz4K0xwdVag - “won’t you celebrate with me” by Lucille Clifton
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50974/wont-you-celebrate-with-me
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM7q_DUk5wU“ - “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot
https://allpoetry.com/the-hollow-men - “If” by Rudyard Kipling
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if— - “To Men” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-men/ - “One Afternoon When Barbie Wanted to Join the Military” by Denise Duhamel
http://www.webdelsol.com/LITARTS/Denise_Duhamel/denise5.htm - “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise - “Marrying the Hangman” by Margaret Atwood
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47789/marrying-the-hangman - “I Think She Was a She” by Leyla Josephine
Text and audio:
https://feministfindings.wordpress.com/tag/leylajosephine/ - “Progress” by Rupi Kaur
http://tastzine.com/2019/07/29/progress-by-rupi-kaur/ - “Bitch Instinct” by Analicia Sotelo
https://poets.org/poem/bitch-instinct - “The Woman the Boy Became” by Kate Tempest (text and audio):
https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/literary/spoken-poetry-tempest-woman-the-boy-became“ - “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45472/i-sing-the-body-electric - “Her Kind” by Anne Sexton
https://poets.org/poem/her-kind
MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
- “Explaining My Depression to My Mother” by Sabrina Benaim
Spoken word video through Button Poetry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqu4ezLQEUA - “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44203/we-wear-the-mask - “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44982/richard-cory - “Edge” by Sylvia Plath
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49009/edge-56d22ab50bbc1 - “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49000/lady-lazarus“ - “The Fury of Rain Storms” by Anne Sexton
https://allpoetry.com/The-Fury-Of-Rain-Storms - “Resilience” by Alex Elle
https://www.readpoetry.com/resilience-by-alex-elle/ - “The Soul Has Bandaged Moments” by Emily Dickinson
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56453/the-soul-has-bandaged-moments-360 - “Dead Stars” by Ada Limon
https://poets.org/poem/dead-stars - “Ongoing” by Jenny Xie
https://poets.org/poem/ongoing - “Diving Into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich
https://poets.org/poem/diving-wreck - “Poems – Series One” by Emily Dickinson
NATURE
- “Front Lines” by Gary Snyder
- “Song of the Builders” by Mary Oliver
- “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” by Walt Whitman
- “The Sound of Night” by Maxine Kumin
https://jaclynhughes.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/the-sound-of-night.pdf - “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale
https://poets.org/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains - “The Old Poets of China” by Mary Oliver
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/O/OliverMary/OldPoetsof/index.html - “The Poet Goes to Indiana” by Mary Oliver
http://yearsrisingmaryoliver.blogspot.com/2010/07/poet-goes-to-indiana.html - “In the Mushroom Summer” by David Mason
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48795/in-the-mushroom-summer - “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43281/the-lake-isle-of-innisfree - “More Than Enough” by Marge Piercy
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42466/more-than-enough - “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45502/the-red-wheelbarrow - “Problems with Hurricanes” by Victor Hernandez Cruz
https://poets.org/poem/problems-hurricanes - “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-peace-of-wild-things/ - “A Winter Twilight” by Angelina Weld Grimke
https://poets.org/poem/winter-twilight-0 - “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
Audio:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/09/24/mary-oliver-reads-wild-geese/
ROMANTIC LOVE, LOST LOVE, AND LONGING
- “Love Is the Master” by Rumi
- “Megan Married Herself” by Caroline Bird
- “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines” by Pablo Neruda
- “One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII” by Pablo Neruda
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49236/one-hundred-love-sonnets-xvii - “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” by Kevin Young
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57448/i-am-trying-to-break-your-heart - “War Widow” by Chris Abani
https://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/war-widow/ - “On Trans” by Miller Oberman
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/57983/on-trans - “Bleeding Heart” by Carmen Gimenez Smith
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58332/bleeding-heart - “OCD” by Neil Hilborn (Spoken word performance through Button Poetry)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnKZ4pdSU-s“ - Elegy for My Husband” by Toi Derricotte
https://poets.org/poem/elegy-my-husband“ - Thaw” by TC Tolbert
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/146921/thaw-5b05c0d6e6e5d - “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost
- Sonnets (1609) by William Shakespeare
SOCIAL JUSTICE & AMERICAN ISSUES
- “What Kind of Times Are These?” by Adrienne Rich
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51092/what-kind-of-times-are-these - “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou
https://poets.org/poem/pulse-morning - “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman
Audio only:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUBRo4g05RM - “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes
https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again - “On Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black Person” by Allison Joseph
https://americanliteratureintheworld.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/on-being-told-i-dont-speak-like-a-black-person-allison-joseph/ - “Domestic Work” by Natasha Trethewey
https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems/item/poetry-180-025/domestic-work-1937/ - “How I Got That Name” by Marilyn Chin
https://poets.org/poem/how-i-got-name - “Freeway” by Lora Dee Cervantes
https://poets.org/poem/freeway-280 - “Blink Your Eyes” by Sekou Sundiata
http://crmsl.weebly.com/uploads/6/3/1/4/63143381/blink_your_eyes%C2%A0by_sekou_sundiata.pdf
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b6ydMA3tAM - “I Am a Nasty Woman” by Nina Donovan (audio):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/videopolitics/ashley-judd-recites-i-am-a-nasty-woman-poem-at-march/2017/01/21/93205bc6-dffd-11e6-8902-610fe486791c_video.html - “Everyday We Get More Illegal” by Juan Felipe Herrera
https://poets.org/poem/everyday-we-get-more-illegal - “I Went into a Maverick Bar” by Gary Snyder
- “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes
- “On the Pulse of the Morning” by Maya Angelou
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
- Composition and Literature (2021)-License: CC BY: Attribution
