A poem can be a perfect thank you note, whether you’re glad for a nice dinner with friends (see Bernadette Mayer’s “We Eat Out Together”) or thanking a parent for a lifetime of sacrifice (see Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”). Also check out “A Gift” by Kathryn Starbuck, which ends with the lines, “today is a gift and I am / ready to receive you.” Or if you are in need of something a little lighter, “The Blue Booby” by James Tate is both hilarious and affectionate.

A Thankful Spirit

Slant by Suji Kwock Kim

Sacramento O No by Liz Waldner

Accidents of Birth by William Meredith

A Gift by Kathryn Starbuck

Bel Canto by Kenneth Koch

from Deaf Republic: 14 by Ilya Kaminsky

For a Gift

Sonnet: I Thank You by Henry Timrod

Thanking My Mother for Piano Lessons by Diane Wakoski

White Rose by Tom Pickard

 For Love or Friendship

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden

Missed Time by Ha Jin

An Exercise in Love by Diane di Prima

We Eat Out Together by Bernadette Mayer

To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet

For the Little Things

Brian Age Seven by Mark Doty

Worms by Carl Dennis

For Allen Ginsberg by Dorothea Grossman

The Quirky and Surreal

Flat: Sentences from the Prefaces of Fourteen Science Books by Bruce Covey

The Blue Booby by James Tate

Spring Reign by Dean Young