by Shari Randall
Occasionally I
miss my old library job, especially now as we move toward April because April
is National Poetry Month.
In celebration
of National Poetry Month, my library branch always put together displays of
poetry books, decorated the building with posters of poems and poets, and
reveled in poetry. One year we even provided “pocket poems,” copies of poems on
little slips of paper that patrons could carry with them, ready for reading at
a moment’s notice.
During the other
eleven months of the year, books of poetry languished on our shelves, the
exception being children’s poetry. You just can’t keep poetry by Shel Silverstein
on the shelf. But in April readers who never thought of themselves as poetry
lovers would stand at the book display, dip into an anthology for a moment, and
find themselves standing in the same spot for ten minutes, captivated by a poem.
The book displays that we feared wouldn’t move had to be restocked over and
over.
What does
National Poetry Month have to offer Writers Who Kill? Poets and writers both
work with words, obviously. Both move “in the world by means of words” as poet
June Jordan said. Novelists can learn so much from poets, who distill emotions
and events into just the right words, economy and power being their stock in
trade. Of all the things I do in order to become a better writer – taking
classes, reading expert advice, studying classic novels – reading poetry
teaches me things I didn’t even know I needed to learn.
So celebrate poetry.
Check out what our fellow wordsmiths are doing at poets.org. And keep a poem
in your pocket.
Two
links to explore:
https://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/home
What is a Poem?
By Dan Rifenburgh
Do you have a
favorite poem or poet?
