Favorite Poem Project
The Favorite Poem Project is dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in Americans’ lives.
Roxbury-based Rev. Michael Haynes’s brother, Roscoe Baker, passed away on May 17th, 2026. We at the FPP are thinking of the Haynes and Baker families.
Watch this video to hear Rev. Haynes read Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life.”
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05/21/2026
We’re participating in by diving into the Favorite Poem Project archive.
Check out this article from Washington University Magazine and Alumni News from Fall 1998!
The article covers an April 1998 reading - a “Midwest kickoff of [Robert Pinsky’s] Favorite Poem Project.” Swipe to read.
Poems read included “Next Day” by Randall Jerrell, read by Kay Bonetti Callison; “Lovesong” by Ted Hughes, read by Sara Ann Jones; “Deferred” by Langston Hughes, read by Clarence Harmon; and “An Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore” by Elizabeth Bishop, read by Agnes Wilcox.
Tell us: Do you, like Kay Bonetti Callison, agree that reading a “‘sad poem [...lifts] yourself out of yourself”? What poems, when read aloud, become “a kind of magic” for you?
Share in the comments below, or send us a DM. We’d love to hear from you!
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04/22/2026
Looking for lesson plans to guide poetry-focused classes/assignments to celebrate Poetry Month?
Here at the Favorite Poem Project, we believe that every month is Poetry Month!
Our Classroom Resources page has free lesson plans and educational resources for educators. While the website is categorized by age, materials can be modified for students of all ages and needs.
The full lesson plan for Poetry and Culture is available via the link in our bio. There, you’ll find homework ideas and potential next steps, as well as suggestions for Favorite Poem Project resources/videos that might make good accompaniments to this assignment.
Tell us: how are you celebrating National Poetry Month? Are you creating new lesson plans or curriculum for students? Are you reading a poem a day? Share in the comments below, or send us a Direct Message. We’d love to hear from you!
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In a NewsHour segment that originally aired in May 1998, Favorite Poem Project founder Robert Pinsky paid tribute to Frank Sinatra.
Pinsky read O’Hara’s famous poem about Lana Turner, as well as an excerpt from David Ferry’s translation of Virgil’s 9th Ecologue.
Tell us: are there poems you’ve encountered that you’ve used/seen as “tributes” to someone you love? Share in the comments below, or send us a Direct Message. We’d love to hear from you!
Bonus: visit the link in our bio to watch Richard Samuel, a Seattle-based glassblower, read O’Hara’s classic piece.
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04/10/2026
Happy Friday! Today, we’re highlighting John Ashbery’s “The Improvement.”
Did you wake up with your “face pressed/in the dewy mess of a dream”?
Swipe to read this poem, and swipe to the end of the post for a prompt inspired by “The Improvement.” Visit the link in our bio to hear New York-based salesman Roger Smith read Ashbery’s classic.
Tell us: what natural images stand out to you in this piece? The shards? The smiling beaches? The leopard? Share in the comments below, or send us a Direct Message. We’d love to hear from you!
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