For May · 11 poems & readings

Mother's Day Poems

Poems for the quiet work of mothers — classics and original verses that fit inside a card and say more than the printed greeting.

The trouble with Mother's Day cards is that the printed greeting was written for everyone's mother, and you only have the one. A poem closes the gap: a stanza of Kipling's 'Mother o' Mine' or Ann Taylor's 'My Mother' supplies the eloquence, and one handwritten sentence supplies the proof — name a thing she actually did, and the card becomes unforgeable.

Don't forget the wider circle: grandmothers, stepmothers, and the aunts and friends who mothered without the title. A short verse acknowledging the work — chosen, unpaid, mostly invisible — often means more to them than to anyone, because nobody prints cards for it.