Family Poems | Poemist

Popular Family Poems

The Duel

by Eugene Field

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t' other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I wasn't there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

......

Poem

by Elizabeth Bishop

About the size of an old-style dollar bill,
American or Canadian,
mostly the same whites, gray greens, and steel grays
-this little painting (a sketch for a larger one?)
has never earned any money in its life.
Useless and free., it has spent seventy years
as a minor family relic handed along collaterally to owners
who looked at it sometimes, or didn't bother to.

It must be Nova Scotia; only there

......

Lullaby

by Leslie Marmon Silko

The earth is your mother,
she holds you.
The sky is your father,
he protects you.
Sleep,
sleep.
Rainbow is your sister,
she loves you.
The winds are your brothers,
they sing to you.

......

Father Son And Holy Ghost

by Audre Lorde

I have not ever seen my father's grave.

Not that his judgment eyes
have been forgotten
nor his great hands' print
on our evening doorknobs
one half turn each night
and he would come
drabbled with the world's business
massive and silent

......

We Refugees

by Benjamin Zephaniah

I come from a musical place
Where they shoot me for my song
And my brother has been tortured
By my brother in my land.

I come from a beautiful place
Where they hate my shade of skin
They don't like the way I pray
And they ban free poetry.

......

Recent Family Poems

Consequences

by Gaia Ku

Deleted

Relationships

by Gaia Ku

Deleted

No Faith In Freedom

by Frangipani Rhett

My house is just that
A place for sleeping and belonging
But I don't want to go into it
Because of my issues from my trauma

My social media is for connections
But I'm terrified of the prison
Of my family's hate
and their relentless criticism

......

Man Of My Word

by Frangipani Rhett

I'm a man of my word today
Because you never believed me when I told you why I was crying

I'm a man of my word today
I was a child then and somehow I was always your enemy

I'm a man of my word today
Because you told me you'd reject me
If I put myself first before my parent's priorities

......

Grandpa S.

by Frangipani Rhett

They brought home a little gift for me
Something they found in your drawer
A little wallet with your license and a photo of me
From way back in 2015

Dad and mom stayed in the room you slept in
But I know you never really felt at home
I wished you lived right by us too
But I know it would have been hard for us both

......