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Subject: MINORITIES - UNITED STATES
Matches Found: 365

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` 14TH STREET WAS GUTTED IN 1968, by CHERYL CLARKE    Poem Source                    
Last Line: For themselves %endangered %or extinct
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; New York City; U.s. - Race Relations


6TH GRADE - OUR LADY OF POMPEII, by VITTORIA REPETTO    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Mia noma e vittoria %2 t's - no c
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


A NOTE ON MY SON'S FACE, by TOI DERRICOTTE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tonight, I look, thunderstruck / at the gold head of my grandchild
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Moving & Movers; Refugees; United States - Immigration & Emigtration; United States - Race Relations


A POEM ABOUT INTELLIGENCE FOR MY BROTHERS & SISTERS, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: A few years back and they told me black
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


A STORY ABOUT CHICKEN SOUP, by LOUIS SIMPSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In my grandmother's house there was always chicken soup
Last Line: But to live in the tragic world forever.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; World War Ii; Shoah; Judaism; Second World War


AFTER THE ANTI-SEMITIC CALLS ON A LOCAL TALK STATION, by LYN DIANE LIFSHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I want to check
Last Line: Panes of crystal %was starting %to crack
Alternate Author Name(s): Lifshin, Lyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AFTER THE FUUNERAL OF ASSAM HAMADY, by SAM HAMOD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Cast: %haji abbass habhab: my grandfather
Last Line: As if the pain behind my eyes %could be absolution
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AGONY. AS NOW, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am inside someone %who hates me
Last Line: Inside it. And that thing %screams
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Identity; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ALBERT JAMES, by REUBEN M. JACKSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Albert james was black long before me
Last Line: And extolled the benefits of fire. %I saw the flophouse where you %od'ed %likewise turn to ghost
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ALL I WANT, by LUCI TAPAHONSO    Poem Source                    
First Line: All I want is the bread to turn out like hers just once
Last Line: On windy, woodchopping afternoons
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations; Women


ALWAYS RUNNING, by LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: All night vigil
Last Line: When all was gone, %the concrete river %was always there %and me, always running
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AMAZONE, by MARY JO BONA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Blond-haired, green-eyed, italian girl
Last Line: For the opera, singing italian arias along %the way
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AMERICA, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: America, you ode for reality
Last Line: Us, and nowhere but you to be
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


AMERICA, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: America, you ode for reality
Last Line: Us, and nowhere but you to be
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AMERICAN DREAM: FIRST REPORT, by JOSEPH PAPALEO    Poem Source                    
First Line: First nobody liked us; they said we smelled
Last Line: (who liked to spit on the floors while he talked
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AMERICAN SON, by MITSUYE YAMADA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I was ten
Last Line: What good %is a son %in america
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Japanese Americans - Internment; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AMERICAN SONNETS FOR MY FATHER: 1, by DANIELA GIOSEFFI    Poem Source                    
First Line: You died in spring, father, and now the autumn dies
Last Line: To smell the still living vapor of your sweat
Variant Title(s): American Sonnets For My Fathe
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AMERICAN SONNETS FOR MY FATHER: 2, by DANIELA GIOSEFFI    Poem Source                    
First Line: You worked too hard, an oldest child of too many
Last Line: If your dreams are mine, live again, breath in me and be
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AMERICAN SONNETS FOR MY FATHER: 3, by DANIELA GIOSEFFI    Poem Source                    
First Line: You never understood america's scheme
Last Line: To carry us full grown
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AN AGONY. AS NOW, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am inside someone / who hates me
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Identity; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


AN ANTHEM, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our vision is our voice
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ANCHORAGE, by JOY HARJO    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This city is made of stone, of blood, and fish
Last Line: To survive?
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; Survival; United States - Race Relations; Estrangement; Outcasts; Indians Of America; American Indians;


ANTHEM, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our vision is our voice
Last Line: It over my face and mouth
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


APRIL FOOL BIRTHDAY POEM FOR GRANDPA, by DIANE DI PRIMA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today is your / birthday and I have tried
Subject(s): Birthdays; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


APRIL FOOL BIRTHDAY POEM FOR GRANDPA, by DIANE DI PRIMA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today is your %birthday and I have tried
Last Line: And not be ashamed
Subject(s): Birthdays; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ARMITAGE STREET, by DAVID HERNANDEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Waiting for the elevated train
Last Line: It seems just like yesterday %on armitage street
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ARTURO, by MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I told everyone
Last Line: Do not call me marie
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Moving And Movers; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration; U.s. - Race Relations


AT THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER, by MIGUEL ALGARIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I search the chemistry of specific emotions
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AT THE NUCLEAR RALLY, by LAURA BOSS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Thinking of my father
Last Line: Next to me tonight
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


AUTOBIOGRAPHY, by ROBERT VISCUSI    Poem Source                    
First Line: In my house we had an elephant named italy
Last Line: And are always putting in another sidewalk
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BARRIO BEATEO, by JESSE F. GARCIA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Woke up to one of those cold
Last Line: Thanks murray, babe %I love you
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BATTLE, OVER AND OVER AGAIN, by SAFIYA HENDERSON-HOLMES    Poem Source                    
First Line: My daughter came home from school one day
Last Line: As if it were the last enemy's retreat
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BECAUSE OF MY FATHER'S JOB, by JAMES MASAO MITSUI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Spring hailstones would drive us
Last Line: Embarrassed the moon with his curses & songs
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BEHAVING LIKE A JEW, by GERALD STERN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I got there the dead opossum looked like
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BEHAVING LIKE A JEW, by GERALD STERN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I got there the dead opossum looked like
Last Line: From his round belly and his curved fingers %and his black whiskers and his little dancing feet
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BEHIND GRANDMA'S HOUSE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At ten I wanted fame. I had a comb
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BEING JEWISH IN A SMALL TOWN, by LYN DIANE LIFSHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Someone writes kike on
Last Line: That pulls you toward %honey in the snow
Alternate Author Name(s): Lifshin, Lyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BIG CHILL VARIATIONS, by REUBEN M. JACKSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: He gives me a handshake
Last Line: His treat - %paid with an american express card. %gold, %but with black trim
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BIRDFOOT'S GRAMPA, by JOSEPH BRUCHAC    Poem Source                    
First Line: The old man %must have stopped our car
Last Line: They have places to go to too
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BLACK AND WHITE, by SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Why is it in my middle-aged dream
Last Line: That her caring can be cleansed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BLACK AND WHITE GALAXIE, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: With water warm enough to make me
Last Line: A black man gotta have a private world
Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BLACK HAIR, by GARY SOTO    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: At eight I was brilliant with my body
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Sports; United States - Race Relations


BLACK HAIR, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At eight I was brilliant with my body
Last Line: To the arms of brown people
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Sports; U.s. - Race Relations


BLACK MAN'S SONATA, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here in west philadelphia
Last Line: Our deep black stripes in a fire yellow
Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BLACKBOTTOM: 1945, by TOI DERRICOTTE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: When relatives came from out of town
Subject(s): Detroit, Michigan; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


BLACKBOTTOM: 1945, by TOI DERRICOTTE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When relatives came from out of town
Last Line: Whose very existence %tore us down to the human
Subject(s): Detroit, Michigan; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BLIND SOLO, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A young poet comes to me
Last Line: But I was beautiful, wasn't I
Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BLONDE WHITE WOMEN, by PATRICIA M. SMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: They choke cities like snowstorms
Last Line: Demanding that I explain %my treachery
Subject(s): Blondes; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BLOOD, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A true arab knows how to catch a fly in his hands'
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


BLOOD, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A true arab knows how to catch a fly in his hands'
Last Line: Where can the crying heart graze? %what does a true arab do now?
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BRAIN ON ICE, by MICHAEL WARR    Poem Source                    
First Line: There's a seat right next to me
Last Line: In which we all %are hourly enslaved
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BRALY STREET, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Every summer %the asphalt softens
Last Line: Would equal, if alive
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BRIDES COME TO YUBA CITY, by CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The sky is hot and yellow, filled
Last Line: We cannot recognize a single face
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; India; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BUCKET, by ROSE ROMANO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Why is it I can't sleep tonight
Last Line: Something is rising in me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BULLY, by MARTIN ESPADA                        Poet's Biography
First Line: In the school auditorium / the theodore roosevelt statue
Subject(s): Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Hispanic Americans; Minorities - United States; Schools; United States - Race Relations; Latinos; Students


BULLY, by MARTIN ESPADA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In the school auditorium %the theodore roosevelt statue
Last Line: Across the victorian mustache %and monocle
Subject(s): Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Hispanic Americans; Minorities - United States; Schools; U.s. - Race Relations


BULOSAN LISTENS TO A RECORDING OF ROBERT JOHNSON, by ALFRED ENCARNACION    Poem Source                    
First Line: You sing a hard blues
Last Line: Our names so different, %our songs the same
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


BUT MY BLOOD, by ROSE ROMANO    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'm beginning to talk to myself
Last Line: American as anyone. But my blood %will not change
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CAN'T TELL, by NELLIE WONG    Poem Source                    
First Line: When world war ii was declared
Last Line: We wore black arm bands, %put up a sign %in bold letters
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations; Women


CANDY LADY, by LAURA BOSS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Aunt lily stood %behind her candy counter
Last Line: And he told me her stone was glass
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH: 1, by KIMBERLY M. BLAESER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Shuffling papers %rushing to find some critical
Last Line: You won't imprint me again
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH: 2, by KIMBERLY M. BLAESER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Or perhaps it was your capture
Last Line: Mother, american indian. %daughter, mixedblood
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CHANGING ADDRESS BOOKS, by MICHAEL S. GLASER    Poem Source                    
First Line: This is a project as overwrought
Last Line: Who were loved, who are missed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CINCINNATI, by MITSUYE YAMADA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Freedom at last %in this town aimless
Last Line: Everyone knew me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Japanese Americans - Internment; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


COCA-COLA AND COCO FRIO, by MARTIN ESPADA    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On his first visit to puerto rico
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Hispanic Americans; Minorities - United States; Popular Culture - United States; United States - Race Relations; Latinos


COCA-COLA AND COCO FRIO, by MARTIN ESPADA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On his first visit to puerto rico
Last Line: Sagged heavy with milk, swollen %and unsuckled
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Hispanic Americans; Minorities - United States; Popular Culture - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


COMING OF AGE, by MICHAEL PALMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was sitting on the roof with my grandmother
Last Line: I grunted spontaneously in time with the hand
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CORTEZ'S HORSE, by PAT MORA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Return, sweet horse, rise
Last Line: Carry me into the stars
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE MONUMENT, by PETER BLUE CLOUD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hailstones falling like sharp blue sky chips
Subject(s): Crazy Horse (oglala Sioux Chief); Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 1, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I discovered the evidence
Last Line: He forgave me all my sins
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Custer, George Armstrong (1839-1876)


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 1, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I discovered the evidence
Last Line: He forgave all my sins
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 2, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Little big horn / little big horn does not belong to me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Custer, George Armstrong (1839-1876); Little Bighorn, Battle Of; Crazy Horse (oglala Sioux Chief)


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 2, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Little big horn %little big horn does not belong to me
Last Line: Survive - survive - survive
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 3, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I wear the color of my skin
Last Line: In this city where everyone / is afraid of horses?
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Horses; Crazy Horse (oglala Sioux Chief)


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 3, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I wear the color of my skin
Last Line: In this city where everyone is %afraid-of-horses
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 4, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There are places I cannot leave
Last Line: The exact skin/ never the same home
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Sitting Bull (hunkpapa Sioux Chief); Crazy Horse (oglala Sioux Chief)


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 4, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There are places I cannot leave
Last Line: Never the same house
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 5, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am the mirror
Last Line: It is the sound / of glass shattering
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Crazy Horse (oglala Sioux Chief)


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 5, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am the mirror
Last Line: It is the sound %of glass shattering
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 6, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I hear the verdict
Last Line: Mortal and sinless
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Crazy Horse (oglala Sioux Chief)


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 6, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I hear the verdict
Last Line: Close to their chests %mortal and sinless
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 7, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whenever it all begins again
Last Line: I will be waiting
Subject(s): Etethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Crazy Horse (oglala Sioux Chief)


CRAZY HORSE SPEAKS: 7, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whenever it all begins again
Last Line: I will be waiting
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


CULTURES, by GLORIA EVANGELINA ANZALDUA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Go out take the pick axe
Last Line: Thistle sage and nettle
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DADDY POEM, by JR. WILLIAM J. HARRIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father is a handsome guy
Last Line: You're good looking %for a colored man
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DANCING, by GERALD STERN    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In all these rotten shops, in all this broken furniture
Last Line: From the other dancing - in poland and germany - %of god of mercy, oh wild god
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DEAR JOHN WAYNE, by LOUISE ERDRICH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: August and the drive-in picture is packed
Alternate Author Name(s): Erdrich, Lise
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


DEAR JOHN WAYNE, by LOUISE ERDRICH    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: August and the drive-in picture is packed
Last Line: Those cells, burning, doubling, splitting out of their skins
Alternate Author Name(s): Erdrich, Lise
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DEER CLOUD, by SUSAN CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The mohawk lover who told her he stripped all his clothes
Last Line: On tranquilizers, and doesn't mention it
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DEPRESSION DAYS (2), by PAT MORA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I bought the dark with my last fifteen cents
Last Line: This country, of the price of eggs and skin and names.
Subject(s): Depressions, Economic; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Motion Pictures; Theater & Theaters; United States - Race Relations; Recessions; Movies; Cinema; Stage Life


DIGGING IN THE STREETS OF GOLD, by BARRY SEILER    Poem Source                    
First Line: My parents were fish
Last Line: And went to dig in the streets of gold
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DOREEN, by JANICE MIRIKITANI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Doreen had a round face
Last Line: Because %no one could remember %doreen's face
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DREAM POEM, by MARY JO BONA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I miss my grandmother
Last Line: Her eyes are older than mine
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DREAMS IN HARRISON RAILROAD PARK, by NELLIE WONG    Poem Source                    
First Line: We sit on a green bench in harrison railroad park
Last Line: And I dream %of embroidering %new skin
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DUST WORLD: 1, by LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whirlwinds of hot autumn dust
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


DUST WORLD: 1, by LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whirlwinds of hot autumn dust
Last Line: For my people dying
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DUST WORLD: 2, by LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: With pupil-dilated putti in arms
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


DUST WORLD: 2, by LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: With pupil-dilated putti in arms
Last Line: This is the whiskey talking now
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


DYING WITH THE WRONG NAME, by SAM HAMOD    Poem Source                    
First Line: These men died with the wrong names
Last Line: In this house, in these people, in this moment
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ELECTION TIME, by LAMONT B. STEPTOE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Names will change
Last Line: Ain't nothin' changed at all
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ELEGY FOR CHLOE NGUYEN, by MARILYN MEI LING CHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Chloe's father is a professor of linguistics
Last Line: Chloe, we are finally americans now. Chloe, we are here
Alternate Author Name(s): Chin, Marilyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ELEGY: 1. WINEMAKING, by ARTHUR L. CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Eyes shining like wetted sapphires
Last Line: In their redman's 'freedom, friendship, charity' %salud
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ELEGY: 2. IN THE GARDEN, by ARTHUR L. CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: He journeyed past liberty and the island
Last Line: In the garden green I followed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ELEGY: 3. LAMBENT SUNDAYS, by ARTHUR L. CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Wineglass at hand
Last Line: He dealt the cards %so I won
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ELEGY: 4. LAST DAY, by ARTHUR L. CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Gentle man, groaning, from the dying bed
Last Line: Your shining eyes closed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: FIELD, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The wind sprays pale dirt into my mouth
Last Line: A soil that sprouts nothing %for any of us
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Farm Life; Minorities - United States; San Joaquin Valley, California; U.s. - Race Relations


ELENA, by PAT MORA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My spanish isn't enough
Last Line: When my children need my help
Subject(s): Chicanos; Children; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


ELENA, by PAT MORA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My spanish isn't enough
Last Line: For if I stop trying, I will be deaf %when my children need my help
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ENGLISH-SPEAKING PERSONS WILL FIND TRANSLATIONS: 1, by MICHAEL S. GLASER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The train whistles punctual as a clock
Last Line: Pushing to be first, not miss a thing
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ENGLISH-SPEAKING PERSONS WILL FIND TRANSLATIONS: 2, by MICHAEL S. GLASER    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the museum, a sign tells of the catalogue
Last Line: Sympathetic looks - difficult to understand
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ENGLISH-SPEAKING PERSONS WILL FIND TRANSLATIONS: 3, by MICHAEL S. GLASER    Poem Source                    
First Line: At the crematorium, caretakers brush
Last Line: #name?
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ENGLISH-SPEAKING PERSONS WILL FIND TRANSLATIONS: 4, by MICHAEL S. GLASER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Later, I travel backward on an air-conditioned
Last Line: By the bombs on hiroshima, negasaki
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ENGLISH-SPEAKING PERSONS WILL FIND TRANSLATIONS: 5, by MICHAEL S. GLASER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wake to watch the sun rise silent and red
Last Line: What we should do and what to declare when we land
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ESPRESSO, by CAROL LEE SAFFIOTI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lemon rind rubbed on the rim
Last Line: Elegant in its graceful arc %burns my hand
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FAILURE OF AN INVENTION, by SAFIYA HENDERSON-HOLMES    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am not any of the faces
Last Line: I've never been able to bear
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FATHER FROM ASIA, by SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Father, you turn your hands toward me
Last Line: And asia is dust, is dust
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FATHER OF MY FATHER: 1, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: The way the incense gripped
Last Line: Of incense to the bowl
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FATHER OF MY FATHER: 2, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Incense. Sucking the wind from him
Last Line: Surrounding the pagoda of san jose
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FATHER OF MY FATHER: 3, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Have you ever seen
Last Line: Nothing could stop me now
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FILIPINO BOOGIE, by JESSICA TARAHATA HAGEDORN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Under a ceiling high christmas tree
Last Line: The yellow peril %bombs %pearl harbor
Alternate Author Name(s): Hagedorn, Jessica
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FIRE: 1, by LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: It seems our days are shaped by conflagration
Last Line: Forever traced in mind
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FIRE: 2, by LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: In chicago, latino neighborhoods
Last Line: The squeeze of skin, this memory %called our history
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FIRST, by GRACE CAVALIERI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mrs. Conti was the first
Last Line: She didn't have to fill her time on thursdays
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FLORAL APRON, by MARILYN MEI LING CHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The woman wore a floral apron around her neck
Last Line: How to honor the village, the tribe, %that floral apron
Alternate Author Name(s): Chin, Marilyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FOR GRANDMA LUCIA LA ROSA, LIGHT THE ROSE, by DANIELA GIOSEFFI    Poem Source                    
First Line: On the crowded subway, %riding to the prison to teach
Last Line: From giving and giving and giving %food and birth
Variant Title(s): Bicentennial Anti-poem For Italian-american Wome
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FOR MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER: A MESSAGE LONG OVERDUE, by MAXINE W. KUMIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You with the beard as red as barbarossa's
Alternate Author Name(s): Kumin, Maxine
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FOR TALKING, by DENISE NICO LETO    Poem Source                    
First Line: In catholic school %they teach you
Last Line: For talking %sometimes %takes years
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FOR THE COLOR OF MY MOTHER, by CHERRIE MORAGA    Poem Source                    
First Line: At two %my upper lip split open
Last Line: They cradle her silence %nodding to me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FOREIGN WAYS, by DIANA CHANG    Poem Source                    
First Line: If I were in china this minute
Last Line: My lope with its prairie air
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FRIENDLY TOWN #1, by SAFIYA HENDERSON-HOLMES    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was august, I was inner city
Last Line: Their teeth chasing our bus
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FRIENDLY TOWN #3, by SAFIYA HENDERSON-HOLMES    Poem Source                    
First Line: For thirteen days %she had threatened
Last Line: New, dark, empty space %slowly
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FROM A HEART OF RICE STRAW, by NELLIE WONG    Poem Source                    
First Line: Ma, my heart must be made of rice straw
Last Line: Ma, hear me now, tell me your story %again and again
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FROM AN ISLAND YOU CANNOT NAME, by MARTIN ESPADA                        Poet's Biography
First Line: Thirty years ago, / your linen-gowned father stood
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Hispanic Americans; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Latinos


FROM AN ISLAND YOU CANNOT NAME, by MARTIN ESPADA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thirty years ago, %your linen-gowned father stood
Last Line: That you're other, %that you're not
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Hispanic Americans; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FROM OKRA TO GREENS, by NTOZAKE SHANGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I haveta turn my television down sometimes cuz
Alternate Author Name(s): Williams, Paulette
Variant Title(s): From Okra To Greens - A Different Love Poem
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FROM OKRA TO GREENS, by NTOZAKE SHANGE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I haveta turn my television down sometimes cuz
Last Line: & sure can dream gd/soppin up the pot liquor %& them peppers
Alternate Author Name(s): Williams, Paulette
Variant Title(s): From Okra To Greens - A Different Love Poe
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


FUNK LORE, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We are the blues
Last Line: We is ouselves / the blues
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


FUNK LORE, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We are the blues
Last Line: We is ourselves %the blues
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


GIFT, by LI-YOUNG LEE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: To pull the metal splinter from my palm
Last Line: When he's given something to keep. %I kissed my father
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Men; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


GOING HOME, by WING TEK LUM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Ngoh m' sick song tong hwa
Last Line: But chinamen aren't supposed to cry
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Language; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


GRANDFATHER AT THE INDIAN HEALTH CLINIC, by ELIZABETH COOK-LYNN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's cold at last and cautious winds creep
Last Line: To everyone who comes
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; U.s. - Race Relations


GRANDMA IN THE SHOWER, by DALE KUSHNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Puckered breasts like leiberman's
Last Line: Grandma's moustache. Grandma's teeth in the glass
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


GRANDMOTHER, by GRACE CAVALIERI    Poem Source                    
First Line: What is the purpose of visits to me twice since you've died
Last Line: A bright clock shaped like a train - %simply that it moves
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


GRANDMOTHER, A CARIBBEAN INDIAN, DESCRIBED BY MY FATHER, by YVONNE SAPIA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nearly a hundred when she died
Last Line: There would be room for me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


GROWING UP ITALIAN, by MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When I was a little girl
Last Line: Like a bright, red flag
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HACIENDO APENAS LA RECOLECCION, by TINO VILLANUEVA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For weeks now
Last Line: You shall not again %pick cotton
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HALF-BREED, by CHERRIE MORAGA    Poem Source                    
First Line: The difference between you and me
Last Line: My reflection has always been %once removed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HANGING FIRE, by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am fourteen / and my skin has betrayed me
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Teenagers; United States - Race Relations


HANGING FIRE, by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am fourteen %and my skin has betrayed me
Last Line: And momma's in the bedroom %with the door closed
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Teenagers; U.s. - Race Relations


HAVING THE WRONG NAME FOR MR. WRIGHT, by HELEN BAROLINI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Pietrofesso,' I repeat to mr. Wright, the science teacher in junior high
Last Line: No teacher ever corrected me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HEAVY BLUE VEINS, by LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Heavy blue veins streaked across my mother's legs, some of them
Last Line: Coming, never stops pouring, this memory of mama and blood and watts
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HERITAGE, by LINDA HOGAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: From my mother, the antique mirror
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Environment; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; United States - Race Relations; Nuclear Freeze; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indian


HERITAGE, by LINDA HOGAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: From my mother, the antique mirror
Last Line: Of never having a home
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Environment; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; U.s. - Race Relations


HOPE, by LIZ ROSENBERG    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Edith b__ and her mother on a sunday afaaternoon. The
Last Line: Voice, I hope I shall come to know you
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Jews; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HORSE, by GLORIA EVANGELINA ANZALDUA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Great horse running in the fields
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HOUSE ON MOSCOW STREET, by MARILYN NELSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It's the ragged source of memory
Last Line: Generations lost to be found, %to be found
Alternate Author Name(s): Waniek, Marilyn Nelson
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Family Life; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HOW I CHANGED MY NAME, FELICE, by FELIX STEFANILE    Poem Source                    
First Line: In italy a man's name, here a woman's
Last Line: And fanned my little neapolitan ass
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HOW I GOT THAT NAME, by MARILYN MEI LING CHIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am marilyn mei ling chin
Alternate Author Name(s): Chin, Marilyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


HOW I GOT THAT NAME, by MARILYN MEI LING CHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am marilyn mei ling chin
Last Line: Mesmerized %by all that was lavished upon her %and all that was taken away!
Alternate Author Name(s): Chin, Marilyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


HOW I LEARNED ENGLISH, by GREGORY DJANIKIAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was in an empty lot
Subject(s): Baseball; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Sports; United States - Race Relations


HOW I LEARNED ENGLISH, by GREGORY DJANIKIAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was in an empty lot
Last Line: Hum baby' sweetly on my lips
Subject(s): Baseball; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Sports; U.s. - Race Relations


HULA SKIRT, 1959, by KIMIKO HAHN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Before my fourth birthday my father
Last Line: That much I remember
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


I AM SINGING NOW, by LUCI TAPAHONSO    Poem Source                    
First Line: The moon is a white sliver
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


I ASK MY MOTHER TO SING, by LI-YOUNG LEE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She begins, and my grandmother joins her
Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Heritage; Heredity


I ASK MY MOTHER TO SING, by LI-YOUNG LEE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She begins, and my grandmother joins her
Last Line: Both women have begun to cry. %but neither stops her song
Subject(s): Ancestors And Ancestry; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


I DEFY YOU WALLACE STEVENS, by SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM    Poem Source                    
Last Line: The hungry and dead are this 'exquisity truth,' %and you an american fiction
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


I GIVE YOU BACK, by JOY HARJO    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I release you, my beautiful and terrible
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Peace; United States - Race Relations


I GIVE YOU BACK, by JOY HARJO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I release you, my beautiful and terrible
Last Line: I am alive and you are so afraid of dying
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Peace; U.s. - Race Relations


I HAVE NOT SIGNED A TREATY WITH THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, by UNKNOWN+183    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nor has my father nor his father
Last Line: Take these words back with you
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


I REMEMBER HAIFA BEING LOVELY BUT, by LYN DIANE LIFSHIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There were snakes in the tent
Alternate Author Name(s): Lifshin, Lyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Shoah; Judaism


I REMEMBER HAIFA BEING LOVELY BUT, by LYN DIANE LIFSHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There were snakes in the tent
Last Line: Appeared mysteriously, %tattooed on your arm
Alternate Author Name(s): Lifshin, Lyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


I WALK IN THE HISTORY OF MY PEOPLE, by UNKNOWN+183    Poem Source                    
First Line: There are women locked in my joints
Last Line: How I am still walking
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


IMITATION OF LIFE, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When the movies were 35
Last Line: Pulsating fires in a fragile tapestry
Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


IMMIGRANTS, by PAT MORA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Wrap their babies in the american flag
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


IMMIGRANTS, by PAT MORA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Wrap their babies in the american flag
Last Line: Our boy, our girl, our fine american %boy our fine american girl
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


IMMIGRANTS IN OUR OWN LAND, by JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We are born with dreams in our hearts
Last Line: So long gone from life itself, so many things have changed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Social Problems; United States - Race Relations


IMMIGRANTS IN OUR OWN LAND, by JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We are born with dreams in our hearts
Last Line: So long gone from life itself, so many things have changed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Social Problems; U.s. - Race Relations


IMPROVISATION FOR PIANO, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Freshly lit cigarette in his mouth
Last Line: I slip away hoping there are angels
Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


IN MEMORY WE ARE WALKING, by MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: We don't want your kind here
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHOIR, by GREGORY DJANIKIAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I had never seen a cornfield in my life
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Minorities - United States; Schools; United States - Race Relations; Estrangement; Outcasts; Students


IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHOIR, by GREGORY DJANIKIAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I had never seen a cornfield in my life
Last Line: Des moines, I was saying to myself %baton rouge. Terre haute. Boise
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Minorities - United States; Schools; U.s. - Race Relations


IN THE GOOD OLD U.S.A., by SR. JOSE ANGEL VILLALONGO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here in the good old u.S.A.
Last Line: My language %my brillo hair, %and my name
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


IN THE INNER CITY, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Like we call it %home
Subject(s): Cities; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


IN THE WAY BACK, by DEBRA KANG DEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The friday before labor day
Last Line: Our parents left us free to look in both directions, %behind us and ahead
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean, Debi Kang
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


INDIAN BLOOD (2), by MARY TALLMOUNTAIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The blackbird teacher / white claw waving
Last Line: Indian blood
Alternate Author Name(s): Randle, Mary
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans - Children; Schools; U.s. - Race Relations; Students


INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL: THE RUNAWAYS, by LOUISE ERDRICH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Home's the place we head for in our sleep
Alternate Author Name(s): Erdrich, Lise
Subject(s): Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans - Education; Schools; United States - Race Relations; Students


INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL: THE RUNAWAYS, by LOUISE ERDRICH    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Home's the place we head for in our sleep
Last Line: Face before it hardened, pale, remembering %delicate old injuries, the spines of names and leaves
Alternate Author Name(s): Erdrich, Lise
Subject(s): Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans - Education; Schools; U.s. - Race Relations


INDIAN MOVIE, NEW JERSEY, by CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Not like the white filmstars, all rib
Last Line: Sacrifice, success, love and luck, %the america that was supposed to be
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; India; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


JACKET NOTES, by ISHMAEL REED    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Being a colored poet
Last Line: You're bigger than the %barrel
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


JADE, by JANICE MIRIKITANI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I knew a young hooker
Last Line: Her dead eyes, glassy %as jewels
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


JEWISH SINGLES EVENT, by STEWART J. FLORSHEIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here are those who are challenged by
Last Line: Their branded arms embrace us
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


JUNIOR HIGH DANCE, by ALLISON JOSEPH    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: No one wanted to dance with us
Last Line: Right there, no matter how funky %the beat, no matter how delicious
Subject(s): Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Schools; U.s. - Race Relations


KA 'BA, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A closed window looks down
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): African Americans; Black Nationalism; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Negroes; American Blacks


KA 'BA, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A closed window looks down
Last Line: Return, destroy, and create. What will be %the sacred words
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): African Americans; Black Nationalism; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


KATORI MARU, OCTOBER 1920, by JAMES MASAO MITSUI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Two weeks across a strange sea
Last Line: On the gray sidewalks of america
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


KINGED, by SHALIN HAI-JEW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Crumpled like an embroidered pillowcase
Last Line: Into her blood for it to be creeping %so slowly now. So red.Black
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LA MIGRA, by PAT MORA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let's play la migra
Last Line: You do not understand %get ready
Subject(s): Chicanos; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LAKOTA SISTER/CHEROKEE MOTHER, by VICTORIA LENA MANYARROWS    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are both from the center of the continent
Last Line: That no one could understand
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LAMENTING THE INEVITABLE, by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The world dances with hate
Last Line: Of the burning world
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LAMENTING THE INEVITABLE, by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The world dances with hate
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LANGUAGE OF GREAT-AUNTS, by ALBERTO ALVARO RIOS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The great-aunts have a corner, and wrinkled skin
Last Line: Later we stay tight, and pull in mirrors at our strong skin
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LAST WOLF, by MARY TALLMOUNTAIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The last wolf hurried toward me
Last Line: I know what they have done
Alternate Author Name(s): Randle, Mary
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LAST WORD, by AMINA BARAKA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'd rather my fist be made of steel
Last Line: Be at least as mighty as the sword
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LAUGHING GAS, by RUTH WHITMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was near the coliseum, rko
Last Line: Laugh before breakfast, %cry before dinner
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LEAVES, by SAM HAMOD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tonight, sally and I are making stuffed
Last Line: Though it seems so late
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LEFT BANK JAZZ SOCIETY, by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Freddie hubbard's music
Last Line: Black and black -sweet
Alternate Author Name(s): Weaver, Michael S.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LEGACIES, by YOLANDE CORNELIA GIOVANNI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Her grandmother called her from the playground
Alternate Author Name(s): Giovanni, Nikki
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


LEGACIES, by YOLANDE CORNELIA GIOVANNI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Her grandmother called her from the playground
Last Line: Said what they meant %and I guess nobody ever does
Alternate Author Name(s): Giovanni, Nikki
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LETTER TO A CRETAN FLUTE-MAKER, by JUSTIN VITIELLO    Poem Source                    
First Line: We have not forgotten you but here they have you pretend to work
Last Line: There are no peasants here, but my son is learning how to swim and play the flute
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LIVING ALONE WITH JESUS, by MAXINE W. KUMIN    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Can it be %I am the only jew residing in danville, kentucky
Last Line: Out of your damaged hands
Alternate Author Name(s): Kumin, Maxine
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Jews; Kentucky; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


LOST NAME WOMAN, by SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mississippi china woman
Last Line: Who will feed you when you die
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MAFIOSO, by SANDRA M. GILBERT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Frank costello eating spaghetti in a cell at san quentin
Last Line: To grind the organs out of you
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MALCOLM IS 'BOUT MORE THAN WEARING A CAP, by MICHAEL WARR    Poem Source                    
First Line: The problem is not the letter x
Last Line: Only we can malcolm the x
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MAMA, COME BACK, by NELLIE WONG    Poem Source                    
Last Line: As warmly as you hugged strangers
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MAMA: 1. RICE CHILD, by CLAIRE KAGEYAMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: She is the lady %who microwaves tea
Last Line: The last child to taste her rice candy
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MAMA: 2. THE MARRIAGE, by CLAIRE KAGEYAMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Her marriage was arranged
Last Line: And demanded a new wife
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MAMA: 3. FAMILY, by CLAIRE KAGEYAMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: She and her husband moved
Last Line: Dropped in letters and flags
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MAMA: 4. HER WISH, by CLAIRE KAGEYAMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: During the fifties
Last Line: As she cried, 'I want to die
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MAMA: 5. HER GIFT, by CLAIRE KAGEYAMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: In september %I became a woman
Last Line: She is my obaachan
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MARTIN AND MY FATHER, by DAVID HERNANDEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Martin was too peaceful for me
Last Line: That martin, %he was something else
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MARY MORELLE SHOW, by DENISE NICO LETO    Poem Source                    
First Line: My aunt maria %had a show
Last Line: But did anyone %really know %her
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MATINEE, by SUSAN CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Two o'clock on a saturday afternoon in november
Last Line: And wounded bird. Pretend, pretend. You glitter as you fall
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MEN: 1, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today I saw black men
Last Line: Holding their own
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MEN: 2, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our streets filled
Last Line: Headlines ourselves
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MEN: 3, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When the world
Last Line: We jab and swing
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MEN: 4, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Black men
Last Line: Black hearts, black %hands
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MEN: 5, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The young men
Last Line: Just big enough %for love
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MISS CLEMENT'S SECOND GRADE, by MARYFRANCES WAGNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: They sat in even rows
Last Line: They didn't mind her italian name
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MNEMONIC, by LI-YOUNG LEE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I was tired. So I lay down
Last Line: Once, I was cold. So my father took off his blue sweater
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MODERN SECRETS, by SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Last night I dreamt in chinese
Last Line: And hides still in the cupboard %with the china and tea-leaves
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MOVING, SELS., by SAM HAMOD    Poem Source                    
First Line: So we move now
Last Line: Grandfathers -- grandmothers -- fathers
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MY FATHER AND THE FIGTREE, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: For other fruits my father was indifferent
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


MY FATHER AND THE FIGTREE, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: For other fruits my father was indifferent
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MY FIRST RIOT: BRONX, NYC, by SAFIYA HENDERSON-HOLMES    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are ten, two %boys and a girl
Last Line: Not far enough away
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MY PEOPLE ARE THE COLOR OF THE EARTH, by ALMA LUZ VILLANUEVA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You cannot leave / my aunt's house
Last Line: Offended.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


MY RICH UNCLE, WHOM I ONLY MET THREE TIMES, by MARGE PIERCY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We were never invited to his house
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Jewish Families; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MY RICH UNCLE, WHOM I ONLY MET THREE TIMES, by MARGE PIERCY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We were never invited to his house
Last Line: His last trick was to vanish himself forever
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Jewish Families; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


MY RINGLESS FINGERS ON THE STEERING WHEEL TELL THE STORY, by LAURA BOSS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Never before without a ring
Last Line: My fingers never looked so free
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


NAAYAWVA TAAWI, by WENDY ROSE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Left in the field
Last Line: See, pahana, how we nest %in your ruins
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


NAMING, by GIOVANNA (JANET) CAPONE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Meant my grandfathers dominic and donato
Last Line: The more I insist %on possessing %entirely who I am
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


NANI, by ALBERTO ALVARO RIOS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sitting at her table, she serves
Last Line: Even before I speak, she serves
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


NEW APARTMENT: MINNEAPOLIS, by LINDA HOGAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The floorboards creak
Last Line: And deer walking quietly on the soft red earth
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Environment; Ethnic Groups - United States; Memory; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; U.s. - Race Relations


NICE THING ABOUT COUNTING STARS, by DWIGHT OKITA    Poem Source                    
First Line: So my mother begins
Last Line: And peg and I hugged it during stormy days
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


NIKKI-ROSA, by YOLANDE CORNELIA GIOVANNI    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Childhood remembrances are always a drag / if you're black
Last Line: All the while I was quite happy
Alternate Author Name(s): Giovanni, Nikki
Variant Title(s): Nikki-roasa
Subject(s): African Americans - Children; African Americans - Women; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Women


NORMA, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As a teen-ager I was very shy. I always felt so conspicuous that it
Last Line: Then I pulled myself up and turned away; never to agree again
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


NOTE ON MY SON'S FACE, by TOI DERRICOTTE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tonight, I look, thunderstruck %at the gold head of my grandchild
Last Line: The worst is true. %everything you did not want to know
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Moving And Movers; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration; U.s. - Race Relations


NOTES FOR A POEM ON BEING ASIAN AMERICAN, by DWIGHT OKITA    Poem Source                    
First Line: As a child, I was a fussy eater
Last Line: And says, 'can you really tell the difference between a chinese and a japanese
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


OLD BUILDINGS, by PEDRO PIETRI    Poem Source                    
First Line: (1422 amsterdam avenue) %everybody knew
Last Line: That were not too expensive
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ON ALABAMA AVE., PATERSON, NJ, 1954, by RACHEL GUIDO DEVRIES    Poem Source                    
First Line: At seven I dreamed again and again
Last Line: On a blue plate, where they clattered like dice
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS, MARYLAND, by ENID DAME    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Dreamily %making a list %of new names
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


OUT OF OUR HANDS, by CATHY SONG    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Out of a hat
Last Line: The poem about being chinese, %skin the glorious color of chicken fat
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


OYE MUNDO/ - SOMETIMES, by JESUS PAPOLETO MELENDEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes ( %when the night air feels chevere
Last Line: & I forget about the junkies %on the stoop
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PIGEONS, by DAVID HERNANDEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Pigeons are the spiks of birdland
Last Line: I tell you, %pigeons are the spiks of birdland
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PINON NUTS, by DIXIE SALAZAR    Poem Source                    
First Line: We begged him to teach us spanish
Last Line: Like a sweet, round nut
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Prisons And Prisoners; U.s. - Race Relations; Women


POEM ABOUT INTELLIGENCE FOR MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A few years back and they told me black
Last Line: I do guess %that's genius for you
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


POEM FOR THE YOUNG WHITE MAN WHO ASKED ME HOW I, AN INTELLIGENT ..., by LORNA DEE CERVANTES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In my land there are no distinctions
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


POEM FOR THE YOUNG WHITE MAN WHO ASKED ME HOW I, AN INTELLIGENT ..., by LORNA DEE CERVANTES    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In my land there are no distinctions
Last Line: But in this country %there is war
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


POET: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO LUTHER?, by HAKI R. MADHUBUTI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He was strange weather, this luther, he read books, mainly poetry and
Last Line: Do, writing books, she also said that he smiles a lot and kinda got good teeth
Alternate Author Name(s): Lee, Don L.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PORTRAIT OF ASSIMILATION, by UNKNOWN+183    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father sits quietly in his brown naugahyde chair watching
Last Line: Gets kinda cold nowadays for me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


POWWOW POLAROID, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We were fancydancing, you see
Last Line: My uncle held his great belly in his hands, walked amoung the fancy dancers / forgiveness
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


POWWOW POLAROID, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We were fancydancing, you see
Last Line: The fancydancers, said this: %forgiveness
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PRAISE THE TORTILLA, PRAISE THE MENUDO, PRAISE THE CHORIZO, by RAY GONZALEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: I praise the tortilla in honor of el panzon
Last Line: Our chins and drips away
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PRAYER, by JOSEPH BRUCHAC    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let my words
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PREPARATIONS FOR SEDER, by MICHAEL S. GLASER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Preparing schmaltz for matzoh balls
Last Line: And eat and praise the taste of, wanting more
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PRESENT, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This woman vomiting her
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PRESENT, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This woman vomiting her
Last Line: Making pilgimage to herself. Walking
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 18, PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, by MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Miss wilson's eyes, opaque %as blue glass, fix on me
Last Line: And my rage will blow %your house down
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Moving And Movers; New Jersey; Refugees; Schools; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration; U.s. - Race Relations


REAL INDIAN LEANS AGAINST, by UNKNOWN+183    Poem Source                    
First Line: The pink neon lit window full of plaster of paris & resin
Last Line: Somewhere %where nobody is sold
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


RECOGNIZED FUTURES, by LISA SUHAIR MAJAJ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Turning to you, my name
Last Line: All our tongues can sing
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


RESERVATION, by SUSAN CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: You seldom talked about the indian side
Last Line: Among spring beauties and curled adder's tongue
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


RESTROOM, by CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I push out of customs, stumble, almost fall, legs numb
Last Line: Turn on the faucet. Water flows and flows over my hands, %warm and full of light, like a blessing
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; India; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


RIB SANDWICH, by JR. WILLIAM J. HARRIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wanted a rib sandwich
Last Line: And didn't even %need a passport
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SALT, by YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lisa, leona, loretta? %she's sipping a milkshake
Last Line: In a wooden barrel
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, James Willie, Jr.
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SAM, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If he could have kept
Last Line: What did you do to my father?
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Fathers & Daughters; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


SAM, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If he could have kept
Last Line: What did you do to my father
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Fathers And Daughters; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN, by JENNIFER LAGIER    Poem Source                    
First Line: We laughed %calling it'latent wop syndrome'
Last Line: Waiting official permission %to be let off the boat
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SECRET LOVE, by MILTON KESSLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father's back %heaves toward the sea
Last Line: They shook on it
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SEDER, by ENID DAME    Poem Source                    
First Line: This is a strange seder
Last Line: We keep on - we keep going on
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SENORA X NO MORE, by PAT MORA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Straight as a nun I sit
Last Line: I carve my crooked name, and again at night %until my hand and arm are sore, %I carve my crooked nam
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SO I LOST MY TEMPER, by ROSE ROMANO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Another one was coming toward me
Last Line: They lose their temper
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SO MEXICANS ARE TAKING JOBS FROM AMERICANS, by JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O yes? Do they come on horses
Last Line: And the children too
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


SO MEXICANS ARE TAKING JOBS FROM AMERICANS, by JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O yes? Do they come on horses
Last Line: What they really say is, let them die, %and the children too
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SOMETHING ABOUT BEING AN INDIAN, by ADRIAN C. LOUIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: There's something about being an indian
Last Line: A place we call the fire water world
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; San Francisco; U.s. - Race Relations


SONG AT MIDNIGHT, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Brothers,/this big woman
Last Line: If you do not?
Subject(s): Women; Beauty; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Spiritual Life; United States - Race Relations; Women & Religion


SONG NO. 3, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Cain't nobody tell me any different
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Literary Form; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SONG NO. 3, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Cain't nobody tell me any different
Last Line: Looka here, a pretty little black girl lookin' just like me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Literary Form; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SONG OF THE THIRD GENERATION, by JULIA LISELLA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I learned to read in the dark
Last Line: In the old way, which is any way that we can
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SOUL MAKE A PATH THROUGH SHOUTING, by CYRUS CURTIS CASSELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thick at the schoolgate are the ones
Last Line: I'm just going to school.
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Civil Rights Movement; Dissenters; Education; Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; Little Rock, Arkansas; Marginality, Social; Minorities - United States; Schools; United States - Race Relations; Estrangement; Outcasts;


SOUTH BRONX TESTIMONIAL: 1, by SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES    Poem Source                    
First Line: We live amidst hills of desolate
Last Line: To read on and on
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SOUTH BRONX TESTIMONIAL: 2, by SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES    Poem Source                    
First Line: The I.R.T. Is hot and humid
Last Line: One of the victims too
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SOUTH BRONX TESTIMONIAL: 3, by SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES    Poem Source                    
First Line: We were all insane,the eternal
Last Line: Or molested, the list %goes on
Subject(s): Bronx, New York City; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SOUTH BRONX TESTIMONIAL: 4, by SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES    Poem Source                    
First Line: In our wagon, oysters are treasured, their
Last Line: We wear them in our hair, and %in our eyes
Variant Title(s): Amor Negr
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SPEAKING THROUGH WHITE: FOR MY MOTHER: 1, by KYOKO MORI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Twenty years ago today, your death changed
Last Line: The world outside your window tilted
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SPEAKING THROUGH WHITE: FOR MY MOTHER: 2, by KYOKO MORI    Poem Source                    
First Line: After the morning of honeybell oranges
Last Line: Snow like our words through silence
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


STARLIGHT HAVEN, by SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Susie wong was at the starlight haven
Last Line: In white who laugh, quack, quack
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


STORY KEEPER, by WENDY ROSE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The stories %would be braided in my hair
Last Line: Like sun-dried greasy %gambling bones
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SUCH A BOAT OF LAND, by LAMONT B. STEPTOE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Against a backdrop of pennsylvania hills
Last Line: Ebbing and flowing on the beaches of time %in this american land
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SUSANS: 1, by SUSAN CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: First day of kingergarten I slice my four-years' thumb
Last Line: When the brown-eyed deer still came five feet close
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SUSANS: 2, by SUSAN CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: In kindergarten class there is a second susan, a susan of blond hair
Last Line: Favored the blue-eyed girl who sang in tune
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SUSANS: 3, by SUSAN CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother explains the second susan comes from a family
Last Line: After a susan in a favorite poem, a wild girl who roamed outside among rain and flowers
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SUSANS: 4, by SUSAN CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A grown woman sunning in solitude on a high hill, freckling
Last Line: Patients lie dying in hospital rooms white as her skin
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SWEATERS, by LUCIA MARIA PERILLO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Used to be, fellows would ask if you were married
Last Line: Have long since fallen to the moths of bitter days. & what %will I inherit to soften this hard skin,
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TAKING IT BACK, by DIXIE SALAZAR    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hand-tinted, creamy olive skin
Last Line: [what] still splits off in the wind
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Prisons And Prisoners; U.s. - Race Relations; Women


TATTOO, by GREGG SHAPIRO    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father won't talk about the numbers
Last Line: I would scrub the numbers from his arm, %extinguish the fire and give him back his life
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TEE, by REUBEN M. JACKSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: A bic lighter %cranked to the max
Last Line: When the pusher comes
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


THAT GREAT WINGLESS BIRD, by ADRIAN C. LOUIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was thrashing on the couch
Last Line: Yes, hoping for beauty, %that great wingless bird
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; San Francisco; U.s. - Race Relations


THE ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: FIELD, by GARY SOTO    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: The wind sprays pale dirt into my mouth
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Farm Life; Minorities - United States; San Joaquin Valley, California; United States - Race Relations; Agriculture; Farmers


THE GIFT, by LI-YOUNG LEE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: To pull the metal splinter from my palm
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Men; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE HOUSE ON MOSCOW STREET, by MARILYN NELSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It's the ragged source of memory
Alternate Author Name(s): Waniek, Marilyn Nelson
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Family Life; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Relatives


THE HULA SKIRT, 1959, by KIMIKO HAHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Before my fourth birthday my father
Last Line: That much I remember
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE LAST WOLF, by MARY TALLMOUNTAIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The last wolf hurried toward me
Alternate Author Name(s): Randle, Mary
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE MEN: 1, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today I saw black men
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE MEN: 2, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our streets filled
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE MEN: 3, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When the world
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE MEN: 4, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Black men
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE MEN: 5, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The young men
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


THE NEW APARTMENT: MINNEAPOLIS, by LINDA HOGAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The floorboards creak
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Environment; Ethnic Groups - United States; Memory; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; United States - Race Relations; Nuclear Freeze; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Indians Of America; American Indians


THE TRUTH IS, by LINDA HOGAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In my left pocket a chickasaw hand
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Environment; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; United States - Race Relations; Women; Nuclear Freeze; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Indians Of America; American Indians;


THE WOMAN HANGING FROM THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR WINDOW, by JOY HARJO    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She is the woman hanging from the 13th floor
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Gays & Lesbians; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men


THEY DIDN'T GET ME, by ALMA LUZ VILLANUEVA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: All on its own %and I'm amazed
Variant Title(s): They Didn't Get M
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


THREE GYPSIES, by SHALIN HAI-JEW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Blancing on oriental spike heels
Last Line: He turns to watch this parade of gypsies
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TO H. N., by DAVID MURA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is always easy to sentimentalize old lovers. They are distant
Last Line: You're probably indifferent. Which is just as well
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TO HELL AND BACK, WITH CAKE, by SAFIYA HENDERSON-HOLMES    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was spring, saturday
Last Line: But holding my breath
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TO JESUS VILLANUEVA, WITH LOVE, by ALMA LUZ VILLANUEVA    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My first vivid memory of you
Last Line: Enough.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Fathers; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


TODAY WAS A BAD DAY LIKE TB, by UNKNOWN+183    Poem Source                    
First Line: Saw whites clap during a sacred dance
Last Line: All that comes %is blood & spit
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TODAY WE WILL NOT BE INVISIBLE NOR SILENT, by VICTORIA LENA MANYARROWS    Poem Source                    
Last Line: And in all the earth and rivers of the americas
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRANSLATED FROM THE AMERICAN, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: After all the drive-in theaters have closed
Last Line: I'll give them exa t directions
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


TRANSLATED FROM THE AMERICAN, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: After all the drive-in theaters have closed
Last Line: I'll give them exact directions
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRAVELS IN THE SOUTH: 1. EAST TEXAS, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I left the alabama-coushatta people
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRAVELS IN THE SOUTH: 1. EAST TEXAS, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I left the alabama-coushatta people
Last Line: It would be the morning, the sun
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRAVELS IN THE SOUTH: 2. THE CREEK NATION EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once, in a story, I wrote that indians are everywhere
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRAVELS IN THE SOUTH: 2. THE CREEK NATION EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once, in a story, I wrote that indians are everywhere
Last Line: No stopping except in case of emergency %and hugged a tree
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRAVELS IN THE SOUTH: 3. CROSSING THE GEORGIA BORDER INTO FLORIDA, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I worried about my hair, kept my car locked
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRAVELS IN THE SOUTH: 3. CROSSING THE GEORGIA BORDER INTO FLORIDA, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I worried about my hair, kept my car locked
Last Line: And I didn't blame them
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


TRUTH IS, by LINDA HOGAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In my left pocket a chickasaw hand
Last Line: The left shoe %and the right one with its white foot
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Environment; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Native Americans; U.s. - Race Relations; Women


TWO GRANDMAS, by STANLEY H. BARKAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: One grandma %I knew
Last Line: Cooking, singing: %'alein, alein - %alles far miene kinder
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


UNDRESSING AUNT FRIEDA, by RICHARD MICHELSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Undressing aunt frieda, I think of how
Last Line: I lift her gently, hoping she'll sleep %the hour drive home
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


UNTITLED BLUES, by YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I catch myself trying
Last Line: Where your skin %is your passport
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, James Willie, Jr.
Subject(s): African Americans; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


UPKEEP, by MIRIAM GOODMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father died of a heart attack
Last Line: Same as the day before
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


UPSIDE DOWN BASKET, by ALAN CHONG LAU    Poem Source                    
First Line: My grandmother %rakes up chicken shit
Last Line: We drink gallons %of lemonade
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


VISION (2), by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: No money for lunch so I rode an elevator to the top of the onb
Last Line: Voice or his song. %extras, we're all extras
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WALKING BY THE CLIFFSIDE DYEWORKS, by ROBERT CARNEVALE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even the dark end of belmont avenue
Last Line: To tell them it's ten after two
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WE ARE AMERICANS NOW, WE LIVE IN THE TUNDRA, by MARILYN MEI LING CHIN                        Poet's Biography
First Line: Today in hazy san francisco, I face seaward
Alternate Author Name(s): Chin, Marilyn
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Estrangement; Outcasts


WE ARE AMERICANS NOW, WE LIVE IN THE TUNDRA, by MARILYN MEI LING CHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Today in hazy san francisco, I face seaward
Last Line: Hide your daughters, lock your doors
Alternate Author Name(s): Chin, Marilyn
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WE EXIST, by HELEN BAROLINI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Indians must be the loneliest people on earth
Last Line: Which say we exist
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WE NEVER STOPPED CROSSING BORDERS, by LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: We never stopped crossing borders. The rio grande (or rio
Last Line: The refrain 'this is not your country' echoed for a lifetime
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WELCOME, by DAVID HERNANDEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: When I was little and brown
Last Line: Chicago wind %slapped my face
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A BLACK GIRL, by PATRICIA M. SMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: First of all, it's being nine years old and
Last Line: Were teaching me what it meant to be a black girl
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHAT THE GYPSY SAID TO HER CHILDREN, by JUDITH ORTIZ COFER    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are like the dead, %invisible to those
Last Line: Out of the granite of their hatred, %with our own brown hands
Variant Title(s): The Birthplace: What The Gypsy Said To Her Childre
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHAT WERE YOU PATCHING?, by RUTH LISA SCHECHTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Needling %threading nighttime sewing machine
Last Line: Ma/ma what were you patching
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHAT WOULD I DO WHITE?, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: I would do nothing. %that would be enough
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHEN I FIRST SAW SNOW, by GREGORY DJANIKIAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Bing crosby was singing 'white christmas'
Last Line: I was falling deeply into america
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, by NELLIE WONG    Poem Source                    
First Line: I know now that once I longed to be white
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHEN MY GRANDMOTHER SAID 'PUSSY', by CAROLE BERNSTEIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was when we were living
Last Line: Against all that was trying, and would try, %to claim my attention and consume me
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHERE IS MY COUNTRY?, by NELLIE WONG    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Where is my country? %where does it lie
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WHY I DON'T SPEAK ITALIAN, by ARTHUR L. CLEMENTS    Poem Source                    
First Line: God knows, teaching the renaissance I could use it
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WINGFOOT LAKE, by RITA DOVE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On her 36th birthday, thomas had shown her
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Swimming & Swimmers; United States - Race Relations


WINGFOOT LAKE, by RITA DOVE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On her 36th birthday, thomas had shown her
Last Line: Under the company symbol, a white foot %sprouting two small wings
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Swimming; U.s. - Race Relations


WINNINGS, by GARRETT KAORU HONGO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's gardena, late saturday afternoon
Last Line: In a brief symphony of candied light
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WIRED IN, by LAMONT B. STEPTOE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My entire life %has been spent
Last Line: The nature of %captivity %or madness
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WOMAN HANGING FROM THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR WINDOW, by JOY HARJO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She is the woman hanging from the 13th floor
Last Line: Window on the east side of chicago, or as she %climbs back up to claim herself again
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Homosexuality; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


WOMEN, by CYRUS CURTIS CASSELLS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My cotton shirts float on the line
Last Line: A childhood of breezes by the yard
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


YAHRTZEIT LIGHT, by LYN DIANE LIFSHIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dusty, with some skeletons of
Last Line: Mother's cheeks are caverns %no light fills
Alternate Author Name(s): Lifshin, Lyn
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


YUBA CITY SCHOOL, by CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: From the black trunk I shake out
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; India; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Estrangement; Outcasts


YUBA CITY SCHOOL, by CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: From the black trunk I shake out
Last Line: From me, nail shut my lips. My son %will keep sitting in the last row %among the red words that drin
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Ethnic Groups - United States; Exiles; India; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations