April Is National Poetry Month


Well, in the US, at least. Poets.org lists 30 ways to celebrate, including:

-Celebrate “Poem in Your Pocket Day” (See below for a Cuttleverse you can carry)

Put a poem on the pavement with sidewalk chalk (or on a blackboard or whiteboard at school). I personally like the notion of just a line or two–I think “Since the music plays so briefly… Can you blame me if I dance?” would look nice as classroom graffiti. (send me pics, if you do it! I’ll post them here!)

Buy a book of poems for your local library. And hey, since they probably already have Robert Frost, I’d say you’d be better off buying them something they probably don’t already have. Just sayin’. And you can buy one for yourself, too, if you don’t already have a copy.

Read a poem at an open mic. Hey, I just wrote about watching the “Poetry Out Loud” competition–why not a “Cuttlefish Out Loud”? Send me your videos–I’ll post them!

More suggestions at the top link. Oddly enough, they don’t include “Hug a poet”, “Take a poet to lunch” or “Buy a poet a drink”. So I’ll make all those suggestions here.

Oh, yes, the verse! So you can print it out and memorize it by the 26th:

I’ve got a poem in my pocket
Cos I’ve heard that today is the day
That the poets are planting a poetry seed
Just a verse you can pull from your pocket and read
If conditions are right, it could grow like a weed
If conditions are right, well, it may

I’ve got a poem in my pocket
Could be Silverstein, Kipling, or Frost
Could be Angelou, Dickinson, Cummings, or Yeats
Neruda, or Hughes—there are so many greats—
Or that William McGonagall everyone hates
And whose poetry should have been lost

I’ve got a poem in my pocket
And I’m hoping you carry one, too
We can search out a spot where there’s adequate light
And there pull out our poems and begin to recite
And the people who hear us will smile with delight
Or they’ll cry, because sometimes they do.

I’ve got a poem in my pocket
Though the truth is, I know it by heart
So I’ll study your eyes while you lend me your ear
And recite while I search for a twinkle or tear
Sure, it’s only a day, not a poetry year…
But you know… it’s a pretty good start

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