Today, I’m immersing myself in reading poems to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and listening to my favorite community radio station KRCL 90.9 FM streaming online as they play music and speech excerpts in his honor. You can also listen to the entirety of his “I Have a Dream” speech here on NPR. NPR is also crowdsourcing lines from poems inspired by the Langston Hughes’ poem “I Dream a World” via their Poetry Challenge: Honor MLK By Describing How You Dream A World. And below are links to several poems in honor of MLK Day.
This year there are many local and national virtual events happening as well! Here is a great list of 17 Virtual Events to Celebrate MLK’s Legacy, including a free, virtual film festival Where Do We Go From Here. .
MLK Day Poems
- One Today by Richard Blanco
- Microwave Popcorn by Harmony Holiday
- from Citizen, VI [My brothers are notorious] by Claudia Rankine
- Shafro by Terrance Hayes
- Dream Variations by Langston Hughes
- won’t you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton
- Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
- I, Too by Langston Hughes
- In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr. by June Jordan
- RIOT by Gwendolyn Brooks
- Weekly Poem: Elizabeth Alexander honors MLK Day with stories of the black experience from PBS Newshour 1/20/2014
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Categories: Poetry
