National Poetry Month 2013 (USA)

The Academy of American Poets was started in 1996 and with their award-winning website Poets.org, visitors can search through thousands of poems, check out hundreds of biographies, essays and interviews, as well as listen to recordings of their favourite poetry — which is being constantly updated with new material. Also available are resources such as the National Poetry Map, and lesson plans for teachers. Poets.org receives a million visitors each month. Every April, The Academy holds it’s National poetry month, this was inspired by the success of Black History Month (Feb) and Women's History Month (March). In 1995 The Academy convened a group of publishers, booksellers, librarians, literary organizations, poets and teachers to discuss whether the same idea would work for poetry.

In a proclamation issued on April 1, 1996,  the President Bill Clinton declared: "National Poetry Month offers us a welcome opportunity to celebrate not only the unsurpassed body of literature produced by our poets in the past, but also the vitality and diversity of voices reflected in the works of today's American poetry….Their creativity and wealth of language enrich our culture and inspire a new generation of Americans to learn the power of reading and writing at its best." In addition, similar official National Poetry Month proclamations have been issued by mayors from towns and cities across the country, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tucson, and Washington, D.C.

Since the first one was held in 1996, every year thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events all with the one aim – to celebrate poetry and it’s vital place in American culture. These vary from The New York Review, posting poems and articles by poets and critics whose writings have featured in the magazine over the years of its existence, to The Pulitzer remix  a project sponsored by the Found Poetry Review, where eighty-five poets are creating found poetry from the 85 Pulitzer Prize-winning works of fiction, resulting in the creation of more than 2,500 poems by the project’s conclusion. There is also America's inaugural class of National Student Poets, five teenagers who serve as literary ambassadors for poetry are spending the month of April spreading the word and there is also the “Dear poet project” which in the spirit of Rainer Maria Rilke's “Letters to a Young Poet”, The American Academy are inviting students to engage with poetry by handwriting letters to some of the poets who serve on the Academy's Board of Chancellors.

Although I’m from Europe, this is my third year celebrating this wonderful excuse to promote Poetry, which I will do as I did last year with a favourite American poet, but after that please check out the links below and, if you’re looking for more poetic inspiration go to Pomesallsizes, where you’ll find a wealth of resources in the form of Poems, Anthologies, Links, Blogs etc.

Thanks, Parrish.

Buffalo Bill 's  -  E. E. Cummings

Buffalo Bill 's
defunct             who used to             ride a watersmooth-silver                                                 stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat                                                                         Jesus

he was a handsome man                                     and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

 

Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings (in the style of some of his poems), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. His body of work encompasses approximately 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays and several essays, as well as numerous drawings and paintings. He is remembered as an eminent voice of 20th century poetry.

Poem in Your Pocket

Free Poetry Mag from the Poetry Foundation (PDF)

Poets Letters

Teachers Resources for NPM

National Poetry event Calendar

The Academy of American Poets

If you are inspired by the wealth of poetry that there is available then check out National Poetry Month Blog Tour Event Calendar, run by Serena, at Savvy Verse and Wit.

For more poetry to feed your addiction get your medication @pomesallsizes, Parrish Lantern’s - Pocket Anthology (Poems, Pomes & Poetry)

 

Look, Read, Find Out More.