National Poetry Month

     April is National Poetry Month in the United States. According to the Academy of American Poets at www.poets.org/national-poetry-month: 

"National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K-12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives. 

While we celebrate poets and poetry year-round, the Academy of American Poets was inspired by the successful celebrations of Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March), and founded National Poetry Month in April 1996 with an aim to:

• 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."

Allow yourself to be re-introduced to poets like:

Langston Hughes--The Negro Speaks of Rivers (To W.E.B. DuBois)

     I've known rivers:

     I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the

                         flow of human blood in human veins.

    I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

    I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

    I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

    I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

                         went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

                         bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

    I've known rivers:

    Ancient, dusky rivers.

    My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

And:

Carl Sandburg--Fog

    The fog comes

    on little cat feet.

    It sits looking

   over harbor and city

   on silent haunches

   and then moves on.

And, let's not forget:

Maya Angelou--Country Lover

    Funky blues

    Keen toed shoes

    High water pants

    Saddy night dance

    Red soda water

    and anybody's daughter

Whether you prefer the Haiku, Limerick, Elegy, Epic, Sonnet, or Free Verse, visit your local library to see what all the fuss is about.