It’s April 3! Which means that we’re exactly three days into National Poetry Month! I participated for the first time in 2015 and enjoyed it so much that I’ve been waiting all of March for the clock to turn 12:00am on April 1st. Anytime I think of a particularly good phrase or a poetic image, I scribble it in my notebook or on the Notes section of my phone for later use. People often ask me, “Isn’t it a burden- having to write a poem everyday on top of your homework and social life?” And I honestly thought it was going to be. But it wasn’t at all. In fact, the poem became the high point of the day. After collecting “data” all day, I could make sense of it – make art out of it – and produce something that I could share with my friends and family. (The community of National Poetry Month participants on social media is incredible).
But before I get too far ahead of myself, you may be asking what National Poetry Month actually is? According to poets.org, this thirty day celebration was created by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Inspired by Black History Month and Women’s History Month, National Poetry Month is intended to spark the appreciation, curiosity, reading, creating, and teaching of poetry for thirty whole days of April.
The goals of National Poetry Month are:
- highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
- encourage the reading of poems
- assist teachers in bringing poetry into their classrooms
- increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
- encourage increased publication and distribution of poetry books, and
- encourage support for poets and poetry. (via Poets.org)
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People throw out the advice that you should “write every day.” And it’s true. Just like tennis or swimming or knitting, the more you practice, the better you become. But National Poetry Month is only 30 days, you say. What happens when the thirty days are over? I personally do not continue to write a poem a day after April 30. For me, it’s the undaunting focus of only thirty days that motivates me and results in the most productivity. Thirty days is just enough time where the excitement is still high. Exhaustion hasn’t set in yet. I leave wanting more.
And what do you have at the end of those 30 days? Well, you’ll have some really good poems. You’ll have ones you scratch your head and think proudly, “Did I do that? That should be in a book!” You will have ones you can’t believe you let out of your head and shame them back into oblivion. But most of all, the poems are mini time capsules of the life lived during those thirty days. Almost like a flashbulb memory, you’ll remember the specific details of that day that tipped your consciousness into writing it. It could be an overheard conversation, a magazine advertisement, a question that crossed your mind, what you had for lunch, an event you attended. Everything and anything is fodder for a poem. One of my good friends pairs her poems with a photograph taken on that day. What better way of annotating a month-long photo album?
Ultimately, poetry is a celebration of the little things – the flowers, the footprints, the ladybug, the crumbs on your face – as well as discussion starters about bigger things like inequality, abuse, death and love. Poetry is a way of expressing your viewpoint or confronting topics you don’t quite understand. It’s a way of crafting sonically beautiful thoughts, or sometimes, it’s just a way of preserving a moment you want to capture forever. Poetry can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. It’s flexible and raw, in form and spirit. Poetry is for everyone.
And that’s something to celebrate.
Not interested in the writing aspect of National Poetry Month? No worries! There are tons of ways you can still be involved!
-You can also sign up for Poem-a-Day to receive free daily poems by email all year long.
-Memorize your favorite poem.
-Attend an upcoming poetry reading at Literati Bookstore
-Start a poetry reading group.
-Review the many forms of poetry.
-Watch this video about poets talking about poetry
-Or snuggle in with popcorn, a blanket, and the Dead Poets Society
Go on … sound your barbaric yawp …it’s National Poetry Month!
