Happy National Poetry Month
Author: Jameson Fitzpatrick
April 1, 2012
Established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry observed every April. While there’s no reason not to celebrate poetry every day (as David Groff reminds us in his essay “Why National Poetry Month is Like the Gay Male S&M Activists Leather Night”), here are a few places to get started this month if you need a little inspiration:
The Academy of American Poets launched this popular online resource for poetry back in April 1996– the same month it inaugurated NatPoMo. (Happy Sweet Sixteen to them both!) This April…
- Enjoy the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day project. (Today’s poem is “Spring” by Edna St. Vincent Millay.)
- Check out the Academy of American Poets “Tumblr takeover”: “30 days, 30 poets,” including gay poets Wayne Koestenbaum and Julian T Brolaski.
- New Yorkers–consider buying tickets to this year’s star-studded Poetry & the Creative Mind Gala this Thursday, April 5 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Claire Danes and Meryl Streep will both be reading this year–be still my gay heart!–and out author and graphic designer Chip Kidd will return as master of ceremonies.
- For more suggestions from the Academy of American Poets, visit the Poets.org page for NatPoMo.
- During the month of April the Poetry Foundation blog Harriet will be guest-blogged by over thirty poets having an ongoing conversation. This year’s lineup includes D.A. Powell.
- For the past four years, The Rumpus has run a new poem each day in April by some of the most exciting voices in contemporary poetry. It’s always one of my favorite things about NatPoMo. (Days 1 and 2 have brought us Douglas Kearney’s “Drop It Like It’s Hottentot Venus.” and Brenda Shaughnessy’s “At the Book Shrink”.)
- Jeffery Berg will also once again be curating his own poem-a-day series on his blog. Don’t miss it, and look for plenty of queer poets to included!
Here at LLR:
- Don’t forget to read the work featured in our Poetry Spotlight each week. This month we’re looking forward to featuring poems by Julia Guez, Shane Michael Manieri, Monica Wendel and Aaron Smith.
Of course, I hope readers all take some time this month to revisit the poems of Adrienne Rich. Here are a few of my favorites…
