diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-python-alpha/lib/Dockerfile b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-python-alpha/lib/Dockerfile
index e61f15fcb0fa8..334b2a80ac4d9 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-python-alpha/lib/Dockerfile
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-python-alpha/lib/Dockerfile
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ FROM $IMAGE
 ARG PIP_INDEX_URL
 ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
 ARG HTTPS_PROXY
+ARG POETRY_VERSION=1.5.1
 
 # Add virtualenv path
 ENV PATH="/usr/app/venv/bin:$PATH"
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ ENV PIP_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/pip-cache
 ENV POETRY_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/poetry-cache
 
 RUN \
-# create a new virtualenv for python to use 
+# create a new virtualenv for python to use
 # so that it isn't using root
     python -m venv /usr/app/venv && \
 # Create a new location for the pip cache
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ RUN \
 # Ensure all users can write to poetry cache
     chmod -R 777 /tmp/poetry-cache && \
 # pipenv 2022.4.8 is the last version with Python 3.6 support
-    pip install pipenv==2022.4.8 poetry && \
+    pip install pipenv==2022.4.8 poetry==$POETRY_VERSION && \
 # Ensure no temporary files remain in the caches
     rm -rf /tmp/pip-cache/* /tmp/poetry-cache/*