Cousin Poems

List of New Poems

PM	Poem Title	Poet	Form	Categories
	The Cousin We Feared	Caren Krutsinger	Free verse	cousin, memory, nostalgia,
	Silence	Brandon Butler	Free verse	12th grade, conflict, cousin,
	No safe haven	Gajanan Mishra	Free verse	age, care, confidence, cousin,
	Blind Date	Richard Breese	Limerick	anger, cheer up, cousin,
	Trump	Anthony Slausin	Free verse	cousin, relationship,
	The Purple Belladonna	Debjani Mitra	Rhyme	cousin, beautiful, betrayal, black love,
	Kid's Table	Greg Gaul	Free verse	christmas, cousin, family, friend,
	Deer Colette	Colette Dright	Light Verse	cousin, family, fun, funny,
	My Cousins the Bears	Caren Krutsinger	Prose Poetry	cousin, 4th grade, 5th grade,
	Turmoil and Pain	Tamara Myles	ABC	best friend, cousin, death,
	Elusive Ephemeral Ethereal Expansive Timelessness	matthew harris	Free verse	allegory, allusion, cousin, creation,
	Clumsy Cousins	Gerald Dillenbeck	Free verse	cousin, health, humor, myth,
	No Last Call	taai tekai	Name	cousin,
	An Epitaph	Subimal Sinha-Roy	Epitaph	cousin, humorous,
	B28-P2-I LOVE YOU	Jerry Wells	Prose Poetry	cousin, 9th grade, africa, age,
	the heroin addict	jan hansen	Blank verse	cousin, cry, death of
	Stof	Jimmi Canada	Blitz	cousin, 3rd grade, basketball, class,
	Pappy's Moonshine Still	GeorgeKenneth Martin	Lyric	august, boyfriend, brother, cousin,
	I accidentally let one loose	Jack Webster	Rhyme	america, anxiety, brother, cousin,
	Stabbed back in the love	Dawa Zangpo	Blank verse	cousin, anniversary, anti bullying, bangla,
	Ignored Opinions	randy johnson	Rhyme	cousin, people,
	continuity	jan hansen	Blank verse	community, confusion, cousin,
	the voice	jan hansen	Blank verse	courage, cousin,
	HOGGEY	Jimmi Canada	Prose Poetry	care, city, cousin, cry,
	Aunt Windell	Caren Krutsinger	Kimo	child, children, cousin, funny,
	Don't Come to My Funeral	Jali the Bard	Quatrain	betrayal, cousin, death, family,
	Open Book	Danny Morales Olmos	Bio	cousin, america, anxiety, books, confidence,
	Losing virginity	Amelia Josephie	Blank verse	cousin, anger, appreciation, beautiful, blue,
	SEEING INTO MY FUTURE	Line Gauthier	Free verse	cousin, growing up, introspection,
	CONFUSTION	kurtis scott aka curtis futch jr	Light Verse	adventure, celebration, cousin,
	coffee is latte now	jan hansen	Blank verse	community, confusion, cousin, crush,
	Hill Rats	Kathryn Sweeney	Free verse	adventure, cousin,
	My Vistors	Arnold Nelson	I do not know?	blessing, celebrity, cousin, feelings,
	Wind	Martina jhones	Light Verse	cousin, angel, beautiful, bird, butterfly,
	love	Martina jhones	Romanticism	care, cousin, first love,
	Teer a najar	Varish Gautam	Elegy	anger, confusion, cousin, crush,
	Lovers' Moon	Rocell Grace Aranas	Free verse	cousin, baby, baseball, basketball, beauty,
	The Last Dance	Rocell Grace Aranas	Free verse	courage, cousin, creation, crush,
	Fly High Little Angel	Blic Echols	Rhyme	child, cousin, death, dedication,
	So Didn't Pedro Have a Brother	Indiana Shaw	Couplet	brother, cousin, funny, satire,
	Sometimes I want To Dance	curtis johnson	Free verse	bible, childhood, cousin, dance,
	HOLLER	VAL BROOKLYN Rogers BLK PANTHER	Cinquain	cousin, anger, angst, boy, brother,
	I Let Another In	Saudia Holmes	Narrative	betrayal, conflict, cousin, emotions,
	The last thing	zoey lockhart	Bio	cousin,
	The Kiss Of Your Life	Vee Bdosa	Lyric	absence, beauty, blessing, cousin,
	HEALING HUGS	Anita Harris	I do not know?	cousin, uplifting,
	I Remember	Julie Leigh Rodeheaver	Bio	brother, childhood, cousin, dad,
	Our Love To Our Queen	Tiffany Saxon	Light Verse	birthday, cousin, dedication, family,
	Tribute to Kenrick Garcia	Patricia Garcia Howard Bramble	Free verse	absence, cousin, death, family,
	The Eyes Have It	curtis johnson	Narrative	cousin, growing up,

Cousin Poem Example

The Meaning of Bread and Tortillas

"Mi primo" means my cousin in Spanish.
He calls me his "primita"- little cousin.
This is the story of how mi primo
Taught me about the meaning of bread;
Of the meaning of tortillas...
He and I are exchanging languages 
Over Dairy Queen chicken strips;
I repeat the words he teaches me
Back to him in my all-american 
White girl accent,
Trying to learn how to Salsa 
With a tongue that only knows
How to stumble over the trills
And rapid-fire hot-sauce syllables-
He makes me say them again and
Again until I sound like a distorted 
Calle 13 track on repeat...
Mi primo offers me the bread
That came with his meal;
I ask him why he doesn't want it.
He says he doesn't eat bread;
He is Hispanic; he eats tortillas-
Do I know tortillas?-
He gestures, indicates the 
Flat, full moon-shaped
Circle of a torilla with his hands.
Si, I know tortillas.
What I want to know is-
What the heck do tortillas have to do
With whether you eat bread or not?
So mi primo tells me una historia
About a guy he knows,
20-something and something else...
All his family came from Guatemala;
He was brought up going to a church 
With a pastor that preached sermons
That trilled like heavenly trumpets;
He has skin that was colored warm 
As if he had grown up kissed by 
The sun of his family's homeland;
He knew how to speak English but
His mother tongue was always Spanish-
His cousins were his best friends
Because being "un Guate" means
Knowing the meaning of "la familia"...
He learned at age 21
That he was born in America.
Eagerly, he shed his Hispanicness like
A snake skin that had grown too tight,
Clutching at the revelation of his birthplace
Like a get-out-of-jail free card,
Hides the color of his face behind
The red, white, and blue of his
Irrevocable Americanness... 
He doesn't go to church anymore,
Because American guys don't 
Have time for God;
He buys big, fancy cars he doesn't have 
A prayer of paying off because
American girls are supposed to like
That kind of thing;
He tries not to remember 
The meaning of la familia...
And he always eats bread-
His tongue has suddenly turned
Too American to abide the taste,
The flatness, of las tortillas...
He is the reason that mi primo cannot 
Abide the taste of bread, too thick
With the flavor of betrayed heritage
To sit easy in his stomach...
Mi primo offers me,
His little blonde all-American cousin,
The bread he doesn't want.
I wonder if one day he'll
Mean the word "primita" enough
To offer me a tortilla.

Poem Copyright © Cameron Hartley