As President Joseph R. Biden wrote in his 2022 proclamation for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islander Heritage Month, “AA and NHPIs have long played an essential role in writing the American story.” While President Biden may be speaking in the metaphorical sense, there are innumerable AA and NHPI writers who are literally writing their stories – sharing their culture, language, hopes, disappointments, anger, and fear – to tell more fully the American story.

Considering poetry is one of the world’s oldest forms of storytelling – even predating the written word – it is only natural that we highlight AA and NHPI poets and their work this month. Let us know your favorite poem from below @NEAarts on Twitter!

"I hear you call, pine tree, I hear you upon the hill, by the silent/ pond/ where the lotus flowers bloom, I hear you call, pine tree." From "I Hear You Call, Pine Tree" by Yone Noguchi

"It is natural to live in an era/ when no one uttered—/ and silence was glamour// so I could cast one glance westward/ and you’d know what I was/ going to kill. Murder in my gaze," From "Anna May Wong on Silent Film" by Sally Wen Mao, NEA Literature Fellow

"Instead, let it be the echo to every footstep/ drowned out by rain, cripple the air like a name// flung onto a sinking boat, splash the kapok’s bark/ through rot & iron of a city trying to forget" From "Self-Portrait as Exit Wounds" by Ocean Vuong

"I’m so tired of pretending/ each gesture is meaningless,// that the clattering of niu leaves/ and the guttural call of birds// overhead say nothing." From "He Mele Aloha no ka Niu" by Brandy Nālani McDougall

"I told him the West was a magical place. He agreed.// Later he would tell me that this was his last best day, a strange pun on the Last Best Place.// Little did we know we would have to fight a very public battle." From "A Situation for Mrs. Biswas" by Prageeta Sharma

"as some of the tallest trees in the world/ redwoods can grow to over 350 feet above the earth/ yet their roots, on average only travel 10 feet into it/ in isolation, it should be physically impossible for them to stand" From "Prescribed Fire" by William Alfred Nu’utupu Giles

"Recall the frontier when the business/ of memory booms, when broadbands uncoil/ and clouds swell with sticky portals, amassing/ to a monsoon of live-streams." From "Year of the Amateur" by Cathy Park Hong, NEA Literature Fellow

If you're a poetry lover, be sure to check out the Poetry Out Loud National Finals on Sunday, June 5 at 7 p.m. ET on arts.gov! Watch as 9 students from across the country compete in this poetry recitation competition for the chance to win the grand prize of $20,000.