Thanksgiving poems for family and friends

Thanksgiving is America’s harvest festival — a time to acknowledge the help of family and friends, and a reminder of what a gift it is to be alive. It’s a day to overindulge in the here and now, even as we reflect on the past.

In other words, it’s the perfect holiday for poetry!

While a barn full of winter stock and home with family and friends (socially distant or on Zoom, of course) does not fit with our popular conception of the poet as a solitary brooder, these poems show that the occasion has provided poets — from Harriet Maxwell Converse in the 19th century to Elizabeth Alexander in the 21st — with plenty of food for thought. Whether you’re looking for a pre-meal toast, a scrap of American history, or a late-night conversation starter, these poems should provide ample stuffing.

TOASTS AND PRAYERS

A Thanksgiving to God, for his House
By Robert Herrick

Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing
By James Weldon Johnson