55 Best Poems About Life
November 21, 2024
I don’t know about you, but lately, I’ve found myself turning to poetry for inspiration and assurance. Don’t get me wrong, prose has its place, but the connection that poetry forges between the writer and reader is unlike anything else. If you’re feeling the weight of the world, here are 55 poems about life to help you face the day.
(If you’re looking for prose, here’s a list with fiction, some nonfiction, and some memoirs. And if you enjoy listening to your literature, check out the 101 Best Audiobooks of All Time.)
55 Best Poems About Life
1. “Morning in the Burned House,” by Margaret Atwood
Atwood uses the metaphor of a burned house to explore loss and grief. Though the house is gone, the memory of things remains, in her words, “incandescent.”
2) “I Could be a Whale Shark,” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Part travelogue, part meditation on parenthood, Nezhukumatathil imagines the iterations of maternity in nature and wonders at the common hum of life.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
3) “In the Waiting Room,” by Elizabeth Bishop
In a dizzying exploration of a single moment in time, Bishop’s nearly seven-year-old narrator reads a National Geographic and feels the pressure of age, gender, and culture.
4) “The world is a beautiful place,” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
A legend of the San Francisco poetry scene, Ferlinghetti’s poem mines the tension between misery and joy. Whatever our choices, we can’t escape the “smiling mortician” who awaits us at the end.
5) “A Brief History of Hostility,” by Jamaal May
A meditation on war, May’s poem is an incantatory spell against the violence that too often defines our world.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
6) “For My People,” by Margaret Walker
Walker’s poem calls to the generations of Black Americans who have defied the structural violence of the US. She asks that a new generation arise and take control.
7) “Vaccinated,” by Jericho Brown
Brown uses the pandemic as a way to interrogate the way Black Americans have to navigate a society that would denigrate them and abrogate any responsibility. From this, Brown finds a measure of hope in community and family.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
8) “Coherence in Consequence,” by Claudia Rankine
Rankine (best known for her book, Citizen) delivers an impressionistic meditation on the impact of true empathy.
9) “Let Them Not Say,” by Jane Hirshfield
Hirschfield’s poem asks that we think of the future generations that will judge our actions. She resolves that what we do should guide those that come after us, our actions burning like “A kerosene beauty.”
10) “Hurricane,” by Yona Harvey
Partly a poem about motherhood and partly a poem about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Harvey’s poem summons the ghost of a community to shepherd and save.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
11) “Good Bones,” by Maggie Smith
Though it went viral in 2020, Smith’s poem is as achingly poignant as ever. Though the world is a dark place, Smith insists that somehow, “You could make this place beautiful.”
12) “In the chemo room, I wear mittens made of ice so I don’t lose my fingernails. But I took a risk today to write this down.” by Andrea Gibson
Gibson weaves a powerful spell using the most unexpected images. Her chemotherapy becomes a site of remembrance and transformation.
13) “the poem is a dream telling you it’s time,” by Marwa Helal
In its jumps and ruptures, Helal’s poem tries to situate the emergence of the self vis-a-vis the beautiful.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
14) “Rest House,” by Brandon Shimoda
The border between self and other is whisper-thin in Shimoda’s poem. Mothers, subways, and eternity mix to make a transcendent whole.
15) “A Welcome,” by Joanna Klink
Writing to welcome the birth of a friend’s baby, Klink catalogs the beauty of the world – “bicycles…colors…whistles and cardinals that pin the cold snow.”
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
16) “I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies,” by June Jordan
Considering the violence done to her community, Jordan resolves to challenge those that would oppress, maim, and kill. She will, in short, “become a menace to [her] enemies.”
17) “This is Not a Small Voice,” by Sonia Sanchez
In this paean to Black Genius, Sanchez praises that “love colored with iron and lace.” In a world that would minimize Black culture, Sanchez insists on its importance.
18) “Heart to Heart,” by Rita Dove
Dove navigates the cliched expressions around the human heart to find some genuine expression of wholeness and certainty.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
19) “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” by Phillis Wheatley
The first Black person to publish a book in America, Wheatley’s poem calls out the racism of white society. In this poem, she insists on the moral equality of Black people and asks for the attendant respect.
20) “We Should Make a Documentary About Spades,” by Terrance Howard
In this poem, Howard reimagines the emotional and sociological significance of the word “spades” in order to reaffirm Black solidarity.
21) “Middle Passage,” by Robert Hayden
Written in the 1940s but not published until the 1960s, Hayden’s poem was one of the first to use an experimental aesthetic to confront the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
22) “The moon rose over the bay. I had a lot of feelings.” by Donika Kelly
In Kelly’s poem, the narrator tries out the refrain “I am in love” on inanimate objects. The poem summons the rough hope that this utterance will enlarge the possibilities of affection.
23) “Throwing Children,” by Ross Gay
This poem offers up the joy of hearing a child laugh as you throw them up into the air. As such, it shows the little gifts we can give each other in dark times.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
24) “Mermaid Song,” by Kim Addonizio
Written for her daughter, Addonizio’s poem plumbs the depths of motherhood. When it returns to the surface, it finds the beauty of her child still whole.
25) “psalm,” by Alicia Ostriker
Ostriker’s poem wonders at the complicity of the lyric voice – how much of our sadness we give to those who “drink lamentation…like wine.”
26) “O Little Root of a Dream,” by Paul Celan
Celan’s poetry is a sustained attempt to come to terms with the violence of the Holocaust. In this poem, Celan casts an ambivalent eye on the power of dream.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
27) “Letter Home,” by Natasha Trethewey
The Black narrator of this poem wrestles with the ethical consequences of passing. On the one hand, she has unimaginable opportunities, on the other, she feels the weight of culture and expectation.
28) “While Writing,” by Noelle Kocot
A surrealist take on the project of writing, Kocot’s poem wanders through the banal in search of some “austere justice.”
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
29) “All She Wrote,” by Harryette Mullen
In this poem, the narrator offers up a stream of justifications for their isolation – “What can I tell you? I forgot what I was going to say.” Mullen’s narrator taps into the overwhelm of modern life.
30) “The Truth the Dead Know,” by Anne Sexton
One of the great voices of so-called “confessional poetry,” Sexton writes poems that hope to assuage the dead.
31) “Brooklyn Anchorage,” by Lisa Jarnot
Jarnot’s poem balances the tenuousness of life, love, and the enormity of the world outside our hearts.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
32) “Urgent Telegram to Jean-Michel Basquiat,” by Kevin Young
As a desperate “telegram” to a doomed artist, Young’s poem reaches for the past and explores the limits of helping those we love.
33) “The Aura of the Blue Flower That is a Goddess,” by Ray Young Bear
Ray Young Bear’s poem explores the power of stories and the ongoing debt we owe to our ancestors.
34) “Widow,” by Vénus Khoury-Ghata
Khoury-Ghata presents a widow navigating a world bereft of sense. After ten days of visions, she finds her way back, a changed woman.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
35) “We Have Trees Now,” by Prageeta Sharma
Dislocation reigns supreme in this poem by Prageeta Sharma. The narrator and an unnamed interlocutor find their way back to each other.
36) “What the Living Do,” by Marie Howe
A death seems to haunt Howe’s poem. By the end, the narrator rediscovers the violent wonder of living.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
37) “The Red Poppy,” by Louise Glück
Glück mediates on the possibility of some pre-lapsarian state where one can open to the sun without shame.
38) “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” by Ada Limón
From our current poet laureate, this poem locates some small optimism in the greening leaves that burst forth after winter.
39) “The Index,” by Rena Priest
The history of colonialism lurks behind Priest’s ominous “The Index.” Ultimately, the narrator suggests that the meek should start “putting aside our meekness.”
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
40) “Empty,” by Naomi Shahib Nye
“Empty” asserts an agnostic refusal to look on (and thus defile) someone’s unique definition of beauty.
41) “Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou
Angelou’s poem fashions a declarative chorus of “I rise,” and manages to refute the structural oppression of America’s racist history.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
42) “The New Colossus,” Emma Lazarus
Lazarus’ poem is engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty. As such, this poem might be the most famous poem in America. At the same time, her insistence that we welcome the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” seems to have been forgotten.
43) “Femme Futures,” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
The poem reimagines the revolutionary potential of a disabled body. In Piepzna-Samarasinha’s poem, the future is present in every touch of another.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
44) “Kissing in Vietnamese,” by Ocean Vuong
Vuong’s poem asserts the power of love – his grandmother’s kiss – over the trauma of war and violence.
45) “The Conditional,” by Ada Limón
As our current poet laureate, I thought Limón deserved two poems on this list. The narrator in this poem wonders at the power of the present in the face of imminent disaster.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
46) “The Conditional,” by Ada Limón
Dawkins’ poem considers the miracle of birth and sees only the blood and ache of the female body.
47) “The Conditional,” by Ada Limón
Fiercely incantatory, Tamez’s poem asserts the righteous anger of an indigenous woman against the structures of colonial power.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
48) “job prescription,” by Evie Shockley
Responding to the question – “Why write poetry? – Shockley’s poem concludes that “Poetry might not change the world, but it might change you.”
49) “The only poem I can write,” by Helene Achanzar
Achanzar’s poem charts the events of a day with a friend – joy, anger, and laughter.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
50) “American Love Story in Rome,” by Nathamlie Handal
Handal’s poem mediates on the divisions of the self and the sordid imposition on the world.
51) “The end cannot be me,” by m.s. RedCherries
An aching address to her mother, RedCherries’ poem reaches for a time when the ones we love were still close to us.
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
52) “Cast Iron,” by Allison Albino
Albino’s poem conjures the sensuousness of food and links it to desire – both cultural and romantic.
53) “a little tenderness,” by Omotara James
Though the narrator of James’ poem acknowledges the chasm between her and her mother, they share a bond that cannot be broken. The poem ends, “she’s worried for my heart while I’m worried for my heart.”
Best Poems About Life (Continued)
54) “In This Light the Junk Undergoes a Transfiguration; It Shines,” by Cynthia Cruz
The body takes center stage in Cruz’s poem about the difference between the interior self and the exterior meat suit.
55) “Spells for Dread” by Cynthia Hogue
Hogue provides an eloquent gloss on this poem. She writes, “The cure the poem discovers is in the transformative capacity of language itself, how imagination concentrated in sound shifts the vision, if one follows it into insight.”
55 Best Poems About Life – Wrapping Up
If you’ve found this article interesting, I’ve also written on 1984, Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, The Crucible, Beloved, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Macbeth, Jane Eyre, and Of Mice and Men.
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