Ten Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and you are celebrating that, aren't you? Here are some terrific ways to make the most of the occasion:

1. If you think you don't like poetry, or if you usually avoid it, use the month of April to expose yourself to poetry for 30 days. Lots of poetry sites offer up daily doses during Poetry Month; I shamelessly suggest MY site, of course: http://www.yourdailypoem.com/. Click the "Subscribe" button on the left-hand side of the page and sign up for the "April Poetry Parade." Give me 30 days, and you don't have to read another poem till next April. But don't be surprised if you come back begging for more!


2. Write a fan letter to your favorite poet. If he/she is alive, try a Google search or Facebook to find contact information. If your favorite poet is deceased, write an open letter that you share on FB or your blog. Even if the poet can't read it firsthand, the rest of us will enjoy knowing what makes his/her words special to you.


3. Check out a book of poetry from your school or public library. Read it all the way through then choose at least one poem to share with a friend or family member. If you have children in your life, you OWE it to them to share poetry with them at least this one month out of the year. Children love poetry; your librarian should be able to recommend sure-to-please titles. You can never go wrong with Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, Eve Merriam, Jack Prelutsky, Jane Yolen, or Frank Asch. I adore How Now, Brown Cow, by Alice Schertle.


4. If you can afford it, buy a book of poetry. At your local independent bookstore is always best, or directly from a poet (at a reading, for example), but even a thrift store purchase helps the cause. Tons of people write poetry; not so many buy it. Set an example and be proud!


5. Visit a poetic place. They're everywhere! Here where I live, near the Blue Ridge mountains, there's Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, NC. Concord, MA, is teeming with poets' homes, as is Boston and New York. James Whitcomb Riley has two homes in and near Indianapolis . . . you'll find a listing of all sorts of poetic places here.


6. Ask a favorite restaurant or business if they'll post a poem (or several!) during the month of April. Maybe the owner is a fan of Robert Frost or his daughter likes Jewel. If they don't have a preference, offer up a favorite of your own to post by the cash register or even on the bathroom mirror. The worst that can happen is that they'll say no, but if they agree, think how many people will read that poem in the course of a month. You might change somebody's life!


7. Watch a movie in which poetry plays a role. "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Barfly," "Sophie's Choice," "Million Dollar Baby". . . you'd be astonished how many there are. Or go all out and watch a movie about a poet: "Bright Star," about John Keats; "Sylvia," about Sylvia Plath, and "Shakespeare in Love" come most immediately to mind. You'll find a gazillion other possibilities if you search online for 'poetry in movies.'


8. Read a poet's biography. From the sheltered routine of Emily Dickinson to the bawdy brawls of Charles Bukowski, poets come from as diverse backgrounds as you can imagine. Treat yourself to some insider information and you might find a whole new layer of meaning beneath poems you only thought you understood.


9. Host a poetry reading for your friends or family. We twenty-first centurions are missing out on a great tradition of the past: salons. Embrace your inner host/hostess, rearrange the furniture, borrow your Aunt Vinnie's antique punch bowl set and let the good times roll! If there's a poet in your circle of friends, invite him or her to be the guest of honor and read a few poems. Then let others read poems they've brought along--either something they've written themselves, or a favorite by somebody else. Add exotic wines or teas, an array of treats and finger foods, an impromptu ukelele or piano solo, and voila! Instant salon! Or keep it simple and invite every member of the family to select a poem to read and share at the supper table every Sunday night in April. Either way, you'll up your poetic (and cultural) horizon at least a notch.


10. Commit Random Acts of Poetry. My friend Wendy Morton did this on an official scale for many years in Canada. Poets on the Loose is doing it in the Northwest. I challenge you to find the most creative ways you can think of to interject poetry into your life and the lives of those around you during the month of April. Volunteer to read poetry at your child's daycare center or your grandmother's nursing home. Ask your church if they'll print a poem in the bulletin every Sunday in April. Pair up with a buddy and hand out copies of your favorite poems to people at the bus station. Stage a 24-hour poetry reading marathon outside a truck stop. Your imagination knows no end and I know you'll astound me with the clever ways you'll come up with to celebrate National Poetry Month. Let me hear from you so your great ideas can inspire someone else!

A Guy Can Dream, Can't He?

In-depth interviews with intelligent people are always a pleasure to watch. My own favorite "profile"show is the long-running CBS show, "Sunday Morning," which, thanks to TiVo, I finally get to watch (I'm always at church on Sunday mornings). But poet Joe Sottile thinks Charlie Rose is the master of unwrapping our culture's most provocative personas. Read on to discover his secret fantasy!

2010 Poetry Parade: Day 8

At the Mahogany Table
by
Joe Sottile

I am retired now, and I have time,
Time to rise late and go to bed late

I cherish the luxury of listening to Charlie
interview people from all walks of life.

How easy it is for me to admire this Rose
with his good looks and tailored suits.

He knows he has won the job lottery,
talking to famous folks around the world.

But his home court, his uncut diamond is
rotunda in shape, made of Mahogany.

The background is usually pitch-black
and the set is noiseless where he sits,

slightly hunched over with a tired face
he has read their books, seen their movies,

enjoyed their concerts, listened to their politics,
and poked into their being with revealing questions.

He washes away their inner fears and jitters,
taking you and them on a gentle journey

where we discover what makes them tick,
what matters most, and what challenges lie ahead.

Charlie understands, appreciates and explores
their passions, while he cradles to his chest

what makes their lives worth living
and their sojourn so important.

By doing so, our lives become richer and fuller.
We may even daydream about Charlie calling us

“Joe, come sit at my Mahogany table
and share how poetry can save the planet.”

© by Joe Sottile.
Used with the author’s permission.

For more details, go to http://www.yourdailypoem.com/.

You're Doing Just Fine: God Said So!

Day 3 of Wordwoman's Springtime Parade of Poetry

This is a great example of a poem that can be interpreted and appreciated on several different levels; I think it would be a terrific discussion starter for a youth group or Sunday School class.

Jesus Told Me I’m Just Fine
by
Charles Ries

I sat in the rear pew of The Parroquia, the grand church off
San Miguel Allende’s city center called the Jardin. It was early
on Holy Thursday morning and the church was empty except
for the volunteers who were mopping the floor and dusting off
Jesus, who will be carried through the streets later that day on
the backs of twelve believers.
I was there to think, having argued with my brother the night
before over who loved our mother more. This is always a
delicate debate and unwinnable, unless complete and absolute
fidelity is declared to her memory. My love for her is deep,
but not so complete. My brother worries that the memoir I
am writing will not do justice to her memory. I tell him “It’s
a fictionalized memoir. All memoirs live more in the author’s
mind than reality,” but he was very drunk and would not listen.
The youngest is often such a gate-keeper.
So there I sat, eyes closed, listening for some message from
God. I often pray in this way, having a “My Own Personal
Jesus” moment in which the supplicant (that’s me), acts as if He
(God) is listening, pausing to consider my question, and then
stating, loudly and infallibly, (in my mind) the correct answer.
I’m quite certain that many dictators, demigods, and serial killers
have used this same conversational technique with a wide and
surprising host of replies, but I’m a simple man (today) and keep
my questions basic. “How am I doing, Jesus?” I think in my mind.
“Why, you’re doing just fine.” I hear His reply in a lexicon that is
surprisingly like my own (he’s a very personal God).
I leave the church grateful to God for taking time out of His busy
schedule to speak to me, and continue my work of fictionalizing my past.

© by Charles P. Ries
Used with the author’s permission.

The Color of Day is Green!

Winter drab, begone! 'Tis time for tulip pink, hyacinth yellow, and new leaf green!

My daughter laughed
by
Katrin Talbot

My daughter laughed
and said
she could only hear
her boots
but couldn’t you hear
it too?
The prairie swelling,
the dark and trembling crescendo in
the thawing earth
as the bilateral state
begins to unfurl
towards
away
and I begin
to remember
the shock value

of

green

© by Katrin Talbot.
Used with the author's permission.

It's National Poetry Month!

I know April 1st means April Fool's Day to many...or two weeks till taxes are due...or perhaps the advent of spring cleaning. But for me, April 1st means the beginning of National Poetry Month. I've celebrated for the past eight years by sending out a poem a day to anyone who wanted one. But last year's "Poetry Parade" gave birth to a daily poetry venture--a website called http://www.yourdailypoem.com/. A new poem is posted on the website each day, and subscribers enjoy a bit of private commentary which never appears on the site. I've been delighted and astounded at the support the site has found. Now, in this ninth year of my Springtime Parade of Poems, I've decided to post the selections here on my blog as well to allow for some discussion. I always get a ton of comments on the parade selections (ranging from "That's the dumbest poem I ever read!" to "I want this on my tombstone!") and some have suggested it would be fun if everyone got to see those comments and respond with their own, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm not an early riser, so don't expect to find anything to comment on before 9 AM!

Here's the kick-off for the parade this year--a very funny, very clever piece from Wisconsin poet Bruce Dethlefsen:

Mineral Expectations by Bruce Dethlefsen

limestone awfully lonesome since my father’s gone and miss our little talcs and conversations how I marbled at the strength of this good man a grocer who would sandstone much all day that he developed varicosities in both his legs and never once complained even though I took his love for granite I can still recoal his exact words and sediments it slate for him he’d say too late but you shale mica difference in this world he’d point at me and shake his finger of quartz he understood and wished for me not just the same old schist but a future that pyrites would be mined and mined alone (Something Near the Dance Floor, Marsh River Editions, 2003) Used with the author's permission. To see the full posting, go here. Comments, anyone?

Fun Stuff to Share

Dogwood, azaleas, half a month of Poetry Month still to go, my garden underway; can life get any better? Well, having my oven AND microwave not die on the same day would be an improvement, but why whine about the petty stuff?

Let's focus on the positive: here are links I've come across recently that I simply must share. The first is a video of a "grammar rap" by two sisters who have had it up to HERE with erroneous use of the English language. Teachers, you'll never find a funnier way to fuss about bad grammar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt-WIdmCVQ

And this is a provocative essay from a choreographer with a clever idea for Wall Street to consider--exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that makes artists so invaluable to society.
http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2009/03/a_proposed_job.php

So what's your idea for making the world a better place this week?

Oh, the Excitement! It's Poetry Month!

I do believe the anticipation of National Poetry Month is almost as thrilling as Christmas Eve--for me, at least. If you're not a lover of poetry, you might fail to appreciate the thought of thirty days of intense exposure to an art form that's been around since Hector was a pup, to borrow an old Southern expression. I read poetry all the time anyway. I write it for a living. (Well, sort of. The number of poets since the beginning of time who've made a living at it can likely be counted on one hand.) But in April, I read LOTS of poetry. I go in search of new poets. I look up old favorites I've ignored. I go off on poetry treasure hunts, tracking down sources of snippets that sound enticing. I even write more poetry; this year, I'm hoping to rise to the challenge of Robert Brewer's poem-a-day taunt. (Care to join me?)

I poet a lot more than I blog, because if I manage to find time to write, it seems logical to me to spend it on that which brings me the most pleasure (not to mention, occasional income). But this month, I can blog about poetry--with no remorse and to my heart's content--so you'll find more from me in this space for the next thirty days. Drop in often. Share your thoughts. Leave a favorite poem. Sing the praises of your favorite poet. And if you don't have a favorite poet, this is the month to find one--and I'll be happy to help. Stay tuned!