Embracing Poetry

April is designated National Poetry Month. We are encouraged to celebrate poetry. by reading poetry, writing poetry, and sharing poetry. All poetry all the time for a month. 

Then in May, we go back to our normal attitude toward poetry, whatever attitude that might be. I'm fairly certain the intent is to remind people to embrace poetry all the time, but it doesn't seem to work that way. 

People who truly love poetry, love poetry all year round. People who want to love poetry, tend to get nostalgic and determined during National Poetry Month. Those who hate poetry... Hhmmm! I guess they probably think National Poetry Month is a waste of time and energy, but I'm not really sure. Those who are apathetic toward poetry probably just don't notice National Poetry Month at all.

As a reader of poetry, I appreciate the attention shift to poetry. I appreciate seeing poetry show up in places I didn't notice it before.  I appreciate people sharing poetry they normally wouldn't. I appreciate people buying books of poetry they normally wouldn't. I appreciate people attending poetry readings when they normally wouldn't. 

As a poet, I look forward to doing at least one Poem-a-Day challenge every April. This year I am only doing one, the 2022 April PAD Challenge on Writer's Digest,  because my schedule feels a bit overwhelming right now. 

I'm never quite ready for National Poetry Month to end at the end of April, so I've downloaded a calendar of prompts from Oregon Writers Colony so that I can continue my Poem-a-Day challenge after April ends.

Poem-a-Day challenges push me to step outside my comfort zone and write something new. They push me to think more deeply and try new formats. They remind me to write a poem each day because usually by April my poetry writing has grown sporadic.

Whether you love poetry, hate poetry, or feel indifferent toward poetry, perhaps you can use April as an excuse to give poetry another try. Read a new poet. Read an old poet. Find the poetry in your favorite song. Attend a poetry reading. Write a poem whether or not you ever have before. Check out a poetry challenge or two. Share a poem, whether one you've written or one you've read, with someone you love and discuss what it means to you.

You might just find a new connection to poetry if you give it a chance. Poetry is more than what you were taught in high school and/or college English classes.

If you look you just might find poetry in places you never expected to see it. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, poetry is "writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm."

Poetry is all around us if we're willing to see it.

So, let's all take a moment to enjoy poetry, even if it is only for a moment...

Maybe, just maybe, that moment will lead to another and another and another...

Happy National Poetry Month!!

 

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