Poems about fathers & grandfathers

 Find the words to express feelings about fathers and grandfathers.

Photo by Omar Alnahi at Pexels.

Fathers and grandfathers hold a special place in family histories. They shape our stories in big and small ways, positively or negatively, through their work, their habits, or from the wisdom they pass along. Poetry provides a format to honor these men in our lives and to explore the bonds that connect us across generations, whether we knew them or not.

📚 Poems and books inspired by fathers & grandfathers

• Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays focuses on a father's quiet labor.

• Li-Young Lee’s A Story portrays a longing between father and child.

• Philip Levine often wrote about working-class fathers, including in What Work Is.

• Only a Dad by Edgar Guest is a rhyming poem that honors the father and his responsibilities.

• e.e. cummings wrote, my father moved through dooms of love, a beautiful drift of a poem that honors a father's ability to persevere.

🖋️ Poetry Form Spotlight: Haiku Sonnet

A haiku sonnet combines the simplicity of haiku with the tradition of the 14-line sonnet. Each stanza follows a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, creating 14 short moments strung together. This form is wonderful for capturing glimpses of a father or grandfather and to share word images that seem ordinary but hold deep meaning.

Learn more: 

• Haiku Sonnet: Writer's Digest
• Haiku Sonnet: Haiku Streak
• The Haiku Sonnet: Astra Poetica

✅ Checklist

☐ Choose one memory of your father or grandfather
☐ Use sensory details: sound, sight, smell, touch
☐ Capture both presence and absence
☐ Try using a haiku sonnet structure to layer details
☐ End with an image that lingers

✍️ Mini-Prompt

Think of one object that reminds you of your father or grandfather. Write a haiku sonnet where each haiku captures a different angle of that object.

💬 Call to action

Share your poem with your family. Sharing could spark conversations that bring hidden stories to light.