It's here! April is National Poetry Month and The Academy of American Poets has put together a list of ways to celebrate.
I have picked out five items to discuss. I think they are both a little different and fairly easy to do.
1. Revisit a poem-Whether you consume poetry on a regular basis or not, you have probably been touched by it at sometime. Even if you couldn't wait for the poetry unit in English class to be over with, you still may have had strong feelings about something you read. Go back and read that poem again. Do you still feel the same way about it? What memories does it bring back?
2. Put poetry in an unexpected place-Take your favorite poem and leave a copy in a waiting area at a hair salon, doctor's office or auto repair shop. Maybe you could leave it on a table in a restaurant or put it up on a community bulletin board. You never know who may read it and how it may affect them.
3. Play Exquisite Corpse-This is a collaborative game in which a group creates a poem. Each person contributes to the piece without knowing what the others have written. I played this game at a workshop. It only takes a few minutes, and it is surprising how the piece comes together.
4. Listen on your commute-I'm going to expand this one to say simply listen to poetry. You may find audio or video of poets reading/performing their works. You get a different feel for a piece when you hear it rather than read it, especially if it is delivered by the author.
5. Integrate poetry and technology-Whether it is an all out blog post, a status update or a tweet, share poetry on social media. How about adding a quote from a favorite poem to your email signature or sending the whole poem to friends or family members. Search youtube and you can hear poets reading their works or talking about writing poetry.
How are you celebrating National Poetry Month? Is there an item on the list that you would like to try?
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I love these suggestions Michelle, and I agree- poetry often takes on a new life when it is heard. As far as putting poetry in unexpected places, I need to by one of those poetry magnet sets for our refrigerator. The poetry signature is a great idea... now to go find something!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julia. Have fun celebrating National Poetry Month.
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