April is National Poetry Month

 

What is National Poetry Month?

Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month reminds the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and, of course, poets, marking poetry's important place in our lives. In 2021, the Academy of American Poets looks forward to celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of this annual celebration!

 

What I’m Reading

Author Craig Johnson introduces Sheriff Walt Longmire of Wyoming’s Absaroka County in The Cold Dish. Johnson draws on his deep attachment to the American West to produce a literary mystery of stunning authenticity, and full of memorable characters. After twenty-five years as sheriff of Absaroka County, Walt Longmire’s hopes of finishing out his tenure in peace are dashed when Cody Pritchard is found dead near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Two years earlier, Cody has been one of four high school boys given suspended sentences for raping a local Cheyenne girl. Somebody, it would seem, is seeking vengeance, and Longmire might be the only thing standing between the three remaining boys and a Sharps .45-70 rifle. With lifelong friend Henry Standing Bear, Deputy Victoria Moretti, and a cast of characters both tragic and humorous enough to fill in the vast emptiness of the high plains, Walt Longmire attempts to see that revenge, a dish best served cold, is never served at all.

 In Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. "those idiots"), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®. But when Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. starts to think something's not quite right. His tried-and-true remedies -- from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis -- fail to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he suddenly discovers that the neighbors are devouring one other. Local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of Seattle's dangerous new predators. Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV. What could possibly go wrong?

 In honor of National Poetry Month, I’m reading Unseen Poems by the widely beloved medieval Persian poet Rumi. Rumi (1207-1273) was trained in Sufism--a mystic tradition within Islam--and founded the Sufi order known to us as the Whirling Dervishes, who use dance and music as part of their spiritual devotion. Rumi's poetry has long been popular with contemporary Western audiences because of the way it combines the sacred and the sensual, describing divine love in rapturously human terms. However, a number of Rumi's English translators over the past century were not speakers of Persian and they based their sometimes very free interpretations on earlier translations. With Western audiences in mind, translators also tended to tone down or leave out elements of Persian culture and of Islam in Rumi's work, and hundreds of the prolific poet's works were never made available to English speakers at all. In this new translation -- composed almost entirely of untranslated gems from Rumi's vast ouevre -- Brad Gooch and Maryam Mortaz aim to achieve greater fidelity to the originals while still allowing Rumi's lyric exuberance to shine.

It's National Poetry Month!

We are in the middle of National Poetry Month and our library is saluting Mississippi poets on our Facebook page.

Why not check out some of the many talented poets from our state? 

• Maxwell Bodenheim ('Georgie May' - MC)
• Hubert Creekmore ('The long reprieve, and other poems from New Caledonia' - MC)
• William Faulkner ('Helen, a courtship ; and, Mississippi poems' - MC)
• Ellen Gilchrist ('Starcarbon: a meditation on love' - F)
• Natasha Trethewey ('Monument: poems : new and selected' - 811 T799m)
• Richard Wright ('Haiku: this other world' - 811.52 W952h)

Good Ideas from The Academy of American Poets

30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month

1. Request a free copy of the National Poetry Month poster until mid-April; posters can be purchased for $5.00 each in our Poets shop thereafter (while supplies list).
2. Sign up for Poem-a-Day and read a poem each morning.
3. Sign up for Teach This Poem, a weekly series for teachers.
4. Memorize a poem.
5. Create an anthology of your favorite poems on Poets.org.
6. Encourage a young person to participate in the Dear Poet project.
7. Buy a book of poetry from your local bookstore.
8. Review these concrete examples of how poetry matters in the United States today.
9. Learn more about poets and poetry events in your state.
10. Ask your governor or mayor for a proclamation in support of National Poetry Month.
11. Attend a poetry reading at a local university, bookstore, cafe, or library.
12. Read a poem at an open mic. It’s a great way to meet other writers in your area and find out about your local poetry writing community.
13. Start a poetry reading group.
14. Write an exquisite corpse poem with friends.
15. Chalk a poem on the sidewalk.
16. Deepen your daily experience by reading Edward Hirsch’s essay “How to Read a Poem.”
17. Ask the United States Post Office to issue more stamps celebrating poets.
18. Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day today! The idea is simple: select a poem you love, carry it with you, then share it with coworkers, family, and friends. 
19. Read about different poetic forms.
20. Read about poems titled “poem.”
21. Watch a poetry movie. 
22. Subscribe to American Poets magazine or a small press poetry journal.
23. Watch Rachel Eliza Griffiths’s P.O.P (Poets on Poetry) videos.
24. Watch or read Carolyn Forche’s talk “Not Persuasion, But Transport: The Poetry of Witness.”
25. Recreate a poet’s favorite food or drink by following his or her recipe. 
26. Read or listen to Mark Doty’s talk “Tide of Voices: Why Poetry Matters Now.”
27. Read Allen Ginsberg’s classic essay about Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.”
28. Sign up for a poetry class or workshop.
29. Get ready for Mother’s Day by making a card featuring a line of poetry.
30. Read the first chapter of Muriel Rukeyer’s inspiring book The Life of Poetry.

(All content copied from https://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month)

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.

Judith Ann Rush Signs New Poetry Book

Judith Ann Rush will host a signing of her poetry book on Wednesday,April 23, 2014 from 4:30 to 6:30
PM in the library auditorium. Her book, My Testimony of God’s Love and Mercy: God Speaks to Me Through Poetry, is about the trials and tribulations that Ms. Rush went through and survived, only by the grace of God, a testimony of his love and mercy. Ms. Rush feels that her poems will inspire anyone who is struggling in life to look to God because he is the solution to every problem. Judith Ann Rush grew up in Vicksburg and began going to church at the early age of six. She was raised by her grandmother, who insisted she and her siblings go to church every Sunday. Ms. Rush was very shy and rarely said anything, but met many women and men in various churches of various denominations and made many friends in her life. Ms. Rush graduated from Vicksburg High School in 1977 and received her Bachelor of Science degree from Alcorn State University in Secretarial Science in 1981. Ms. Rush thanks her many friends for the encouragement they gave her to write her book.

National Poetry Month

As some of you may know, April is National Poetry Month. Many a student cringes with the mere mention of the word 'poetry', but they needn't do so. Poetry is a way to express your passions and your pain in a creative outlet that is usually short and readily absorbed by the reader. The poem can be structured in one of the many formal forms or you can express yourself in free verse. Poems can rhyme or not. Traditional forms of poetry include the sonnet, epic, palindrome, acrostic, limerick, haiku and free verse.
     The great thing, I think, about poetry is that anyone can write it. All a person needs is the desire to express themselves through some form of verse. Poetry can be fun. There are so many forms to choose from; you could write dozens of poems and never use the same structure twice!
     Some poets tell a story with their poetry; some express only feelings or ideas. Shakespeare, Browning, Byron, Tennyson, Poe, Dickinson, Whitman, Longfellow, Dunbar, and Angelou are all names synonymous with poetry. But what about names like Dylan, Jackson, Nelson, Ice-T, Eminem, Adele, Lorde? All of these singer-songwriters are also poets; they just set their poetry to music. Poets and poetry can inspire people to love, to create, to sing! Writing poetry can help people deal with grief, depression, and other melancholic feelings. Poetry can also express patriotism, glee, and eroticism.
     As a reader of poetry, you may think some poems are better than others. That is perfectly okay. You may not like the very structured poems. You may prefer happier or shorter poems. The library has an array of books of poems. If you would prefer, you can search online for poetry. The best way to find out which types and poets you prefer is to read, read, read! After you finish reading, ponder what the author is saying. After all, that is what poetry is for, making you think about life, death, love, hate, and all of the other emotions that go along with the human experience. I am going to leave you with two poems that I copied from www.bartleby.com (a wonderful resource for finding not only poems, but other works of fiction and nonfiction).

The first poem is from the Sonnets From the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861).

(XLIII.)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.        200

I love thee to the level of everyday’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use        205

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.        210

The next poem is Ships That Pass In The Night by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906).

OUT in the sky the great dark clouds are massing;

  I look far out into the pregnant night,

Where I can hear a solemn booming gun

  And catch the gleaming of a random light,

That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.        5

My tearful eyes my soul’s deep hurt are glassing;

  For I would hail and check that ship of ships.

I stretch my hands imploring, cry aloud,

  My voice falls dead a foot from mine own lips,

And but its ghost doth reach that vessel, passing, passing.        10

O Earth, O Sky, O Ocean, both surpassing,

  O heart of mine, O soul that dreads the dark!

Is there no hope for me? Is there no way

  That I may sight and check that speeding bark

Which out of sight and sound is passing, passing?        15