My heart is most pleased and blessed by family and family relationship poems, for they are closest to my heart. Some of these offerings are funny, moving, nostalgic, or religious. Others are more complex, refusing (as families themselves do) to fit neatly under any one characterization. My poems value the complexity of every family relationship and respect those who honor and uphold it. I hope you find something that resonates with you here. May the poems evoke feelings (delightful and occasionally less so) that we all associate with being part of a family.
FINDING THE POEM YOU WANT: As you scroll through this section, simply read each snippet sample (usually the first four lines) to get a feel for the poem. When you find something you like, click “CONTINUE READING” to view the entire poem.
(My work may be used free for non-commercial purposes only. Please request permission by email and include full copyright information, legibly printed, on every copy made. For internet use, a link back to the poem on this website is required.)
Great-grandma walked across the plains,
her blue dress grey with travel stains.
She bore the hardship, for she knew
her faith in the Lord would see her through.
Our great grandparents knew about the harvest:
the months of labor gathered in with care…
the gratitude for every hard-earned blessing…
the love for home and hearth…the need to share.
Hand in hand, we gazed into
the mirror’s illumining light
and caught reflections of the gift
we realized that night.
Just for a change I’d like to make
a change this very day–
I’d like to do the things that all
those mothering books say.