Video
Democracy
Author:
Langston Hughes
Read by:
Adrian Matejka
Directed by:
Sindha Agha
Video
Poem (I lived in the first century of world wars)
Author:
Muriel Rukeyser
Read by:
Deborah Paredez
Directed by:
Sindha Agha
Video
Barracks Home
Author:
Toyo Suyemoto
Read by:
Paisley Rekdal
Directed by:
Sindha Agha
a dream of foxes
Author:
Lucille Clifton
Selected by:
Robin Coste Lewis
The Mellon Foundation believes poetry connects us to our shared humanity. Together with the Academy of American Poets, we asked 10 contemporary poets to select a classic poem that has helped them make sense of what we are living through right now. Above, award-winning artist Sindha Agha brings three of them to life.
Learn More
The Owl
Author:
Edward Thomas
Selected by:
Ed Madden
Tata
Author:
Pedro Pietri
Selected by:
Raquel Salas Rivera
Ghazal of Dark Death
Author:
Federico García Lorca
Selected by:
Natalie Diaz
The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till
Author:
Gwendolyn Brooks
Selected by:
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Frederick Douglass
Author:
Robert Hayden
Selected by:
Jericho Brown
Teacher
Author:
Audre Lorde
Selected by:
Tina Chang
The Academy of American Poets was pleased to assist in curating this special celebration for National Poetry Month, an occasion our organization launched 25 years ago to recognize the important contributions poets make to culture, and to envisioning a more just country. It is in poetry that we encounter the insights and experiences of others and are called to compassion.
—Jennifer Benka,
President and Executive Director, Academy of American Poets
