Can a poem be a primary source?

I have a global project over the summer and it's about "innovation in history: impact and change!" You're supposed to pick 5 topics and write a paragraph about each one and how it impacted the world AND have a primary source. I was going to use the beat generation as one, but i was wondering if a poem would qualify as a primary source. Because it IS directly from that time period, but i still wasn't sure.