Welcome to a new quarter, everyone, and welcome as well to April, National Poetry Month! In 1996, the Academy of American Poets designated the first National Poetry Month, and it seems to me that every April there are more events and other ways to celebrate. Watch this blog for more updates throughout the month, but as today is April 1st, I wanted to give you a few ideas to get started. One way that I like to observe this special time involves signing up for daily poetry emails, and the website of the Academy of American Poets is a great place to begin. On this site, you can sign up for Poem-a-day emails, and I was happy to find Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” in my inbox this morning, right on schedule. Here you can also learn about Poem in your Pocket Day (April 14th) and 30 Poems, 30 Days on Twitter. Another great site is Poetry Daily. This is one of my favorite places online. Poetry Daily offers a new poem every day all year long, but during April, if you sign up for their weekly newsletter, you will also receive their Poets’ Picks. In this great feature, well-known poets choose a poem that has meaning for them and showcase it with their comments. Today, Alicia Ostriker (one of my favorite contemporary poets) commented on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 (one of my favorite sonnets). Sign up soon and get the most out of April!
But before I close, I’m wondering what things you might be doing to celebrate and bring poetry into your lives. Who are your favorite poets? What have you been reading? We would love to hear your suggestions!
One reply on “Happy National Poetry Month!”
Hey, thanks for telling about the Poetry Daily e-mails and everything, sounds like something I’ll have to check out.
I’m rather new to the world of blogging and only recently started my own, but as for how I’m celebrating poetry this month is by combing the fact that it’s not only National Poetry Month but also Child Abuse Awareness Month and writing poems about child abuse and posting them on my blog.
As for some of my favorite poets, that would be Kilmer, Kipling, Blake, and Poe (among others).
Thanks & God Bless,
Donna