National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and I’m celebrating in a few different ways here at school, and also trying to celebrate a little in my daily life. I signed up for the Poem-A-Day email from the Academy of American Poets, and am trying to think of ways to bring in some poetry for my classes. I also signed up for the Poetic Asides April Poem a Day challenge, where each day the blogger will post a different prompt, and you can write a poem based on it. I felt inspired after my recent ten-minute poem, so I thought surely, I could spare ten minutes or so each day, right? Today’s prompt was to write an origin poem, and so I wrote “The First Cupcake.” I’m going to post some of them through April and probably even into May, as an exercise in bravery and accountability.

Are you doing anything for Poetry Month? Want a poem a day email, or a poem a day challenge, like me? Or maybe, on April 30th or so, you’d like a Poem in Your Pocket? I would love to take part in the Free Verse Project, marrying poetry and photography. If I get really ambitious, next year I’ll spend April in a Poetry Read-a-Thon with my students.

Either way, I hope you’ll enjoy my own poetry parties this month.