April is Poetry Month!

Happy Poetry Month!

“Amen” by James Baldwin No, I don’t feel death coming. I feel death going: having thrown up his hands, for the moment. I feel like I know him better than I did. Those arms held me, for a while, and, when we meet again, there will be that secret knowledge between us. via Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems by James Baldwin, published by Beacon Press

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National Poetry Month Ends: The Fascinating, Handwritten Poems of Famous Authors

Flavorwire shared The Fascinating, Handwritten Poems of Famous Authors. It is an amazing assortment of handwritten poems from the "Who's Who of literature." Below you will find the poem we found most interesting. Having just read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler this one spoke volumes.  Check out all ten and let us know which is your favorite here at The Things You Can Read.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Addenda (Seven Years Later)”

“What shall I do with this bundle of stuff

Mass of ingredients, handful of grist

Tenderest evidence, thumb-print of lust.”

It’s unclear why the Great Gatsby author was penning an 8-year-old poems mentioning lust and necking, but F. Scott Fizgerald did just that.Addenda (Seven Years Later) was written for actress Helen Hayes’ daughter Mary MacArthur. Fitzgerald spent time at the family’s New York home and wrote the verse on the reverse side of another poem he composed for Mary when she was an infant (during the time he wroteTender is the Night). He died several years after Addenda was written, beset with illness from a life of alcoholism. Mary died at 19 from polio.

National Poetry Month

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Three of the Best Poetry Websites

A Dozen of the Best Poetry Websites 

In recognition of National Poetry Month here are three of the best poetry resources the web has to offer, according to BookBrowse.

General Poetry Sites

Poetryfoundation.org. The Poetry Foundation has a huge selection of poems supported by substantial biographical info. I particularly enjoyed browsing poems by geographical region. It's the sort of site that you could dip in for a couple of minutes or a couple of days.

Poemhunter.com. Whether you're looking for themed quotes, the lyrics to an almost forgotten song, to revisit a favorite poem or discover new poets, this vast resource of over 800,000 poems and 80,000 poets will deliver the goods. You can sign up to receive the poem of the day by email and, once you create your free account, catalog your favorite poems for future reference.

Poets.org is affiliated with the Academy of American Poets. At first glance, it seems a little less welcoming than the two sites mentioned already, but when I started digging in its resources are great, not least the very cool regional map of the USA, including bios of key poets, poetry events, poetry-friendly bookstores, and poetry history. The Academy of American Poets inaugurated National Poetry Month so, unsurprisingly, they're also a great resource for that as well.

Want more recommendations Click HERE

What poetry site would you add to the list?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

National Poetry Month

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April is National Poetry Month: The Rime of the Modern Mariner

Books on the Nightstand made this recent recommendation for April...Check it out!

The Rime of the Modern Mariner is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Nick Hayes. It recasts Coleridge’s poem as an ecological fable for today. The illustrations, done in shades of blue and black, are simply stunning! (This link has some interior images)

National Poetry Month

Do you have any tips for writing poetry?  We'd love to hear them.  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read.

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National Poetry Month Continues with @PenguinUSA

Follow Penguin on Twitter for National Poetry Month 

The team behind @PenguinUSA on Twitter has put together a grand campaign to celebrate National Poetry Month 2013. Follow us on Twitter beginning April 1st to join in sharing daily poetic verse culled from Penguin's wealth of poetry collections spanning the ages...from ancient times to modern times. There’ll be daily giveaways, too! 

Browse our new Pinterest board of Penguin poetry titles.

Check out the Poetry Month app Poems By Heart from Penguin Classics and watch the video 

Think you can read a poem with the best of them? Prove it! Email us your recitation of William Blake's "Eternity" or William Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" and you'll be entered for a chance to win over five hundred dollars' worth of Penguin poetry titles!

Let us know what you plan to do to celebrate National Poetry Month!

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National Poetry Month Continues

Writing Poetry with English Language Learners

Poetry gives students a chance to play with language and vocabulary. Although writing poetry can be intimidating, this article recommends some poetry forms just for beginners, including writing group poems and acrostics. Read the article to discover many other poetry forms, and find the approach that works best for your students!-Adlit.org

National Poetry Month

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National Poetry Month Continues

Using Poetry to Teach Reading

Start with humorous poems that rhyme! That's the first piece of advice in this easy-to-read guide to using more poetry in your classroom. Other advice includes tips for choosing poems, how to manage poetry readings, and how to avoid breaking copyright laws when you copy poems for class.-Adlit.org

Do you have any tips for writing poetry?  We'd love to hear them.  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read.

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Sign up for a Poem-A-Day By Knopf

Sign up HERE

Let us know what you plan to do to celebrate National Poetry Month!

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Knoph's Haiku-Writing Contest

To participate in Knopf’s Poem-a-Day haiku-writing contest, please submit at least one, but no more than five haiku to KnopfHaikuContest@gmail.com, including your email address so that we can contact you. We will share the winning verses on our website, Facebook, andTumblr at the end of the month, and the winners will receive copies of David Young’s Moon Woke Me Up Nine Times: Selected Haiku of Basho, as well as one other recent Knopf poetry title. Thank you for participating! Pass along this link to invite your friends to join our haiku-writing contest.

Let us know what you plan to do to celebrate National Poetry Month!

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More: April is National Poetry Month

Poetry is a wonderful way for students to explore language, and April is National Poetry Month!  If you're looking for ways to incorporate more poetry reading and writing into your classroom, we've got you covered, with suggestions ranging from the Library of Congress to book recommendations and more.  Check out: Teaching Poetry with the Library of Congress

Looking for ways to celebrate National Poetry Month? Poems can be a great way to assess student learning. The Library of Congress Found Poetry Primary Source Set supports students in honing their reading and historical comprehension skills by creating poetry based on informational text and images — with topics as diverse as Helen Keller, Walt Whitman, women's suffrage, and the Harlem Renaissance.

Let us know what you plan to do to celebrate National Poetry Month!

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April is National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month

Did you know April is National Poetry Month?  Well, it is come join the beatnik generation and read, write, or appreciate poems all month long.  Hopefully this will transfer to reading, writing, and appreciating poetry all year long.  According to Shelf Awareness:

The Academy of American Poets, which founded National Poetry Month in 1996, has created a new initiative called the Dear Poet Project, in conjunction with this year's theme of correspondence. Young readers and aspiring poets are encouraged to read poems written by the poets on the Academy's Board of Chancellors and respond to those poems by handwritten letter.

In addition to orchestrating the Dear Poet Project, the Academy is hosting the 11th Poetry & the Creative Mind reading at Lincoln Center on April 17 and is a partner for Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18. The Lincoln Center event includes celebrity readers such as Mario Batali, Glen Hansard, Patricia Clarkson and Stew. An in-depth look at the Academy's many National Poetry Month resources can be found here. 

The Poetry Foundation, meanwhile, will honor National Poetry Month by giving out 50,000 free copies of the April issue of Poetry magazine. Among other things, the April issue includes "A Few More Don'ts," a follow up and homage to Ezra Pound's "A Few Don'ts by an Imagiste," originally published in 1913. The Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute will publish, in conjunction with McSweeney's, two new titles: Open the Door: How to Excite Young People About Poetry, edited by Dorothea Lasky, Dominic Luxford and Jesse Nathan, and The Strangest of Theaters: Poets Writing Across Borders, edited by Jared Hawkley, Susan Rich and Brian Turner.

Throughout April, five National Student Poets will travel to communities across the U.S. as "literary ambassadors for poetry," conducting workshops and readings to help spread interest in poetry and the written arts. A panel of jurors chose the five teenagers last year from a nationwide pool of writers from grades 9-11. The National Student Poets Program is part of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Do you read poetry?  Are you planning to celebrate National Poetry Month?  We are writing poetry in our classroom, so over 100 students will have an opportunity to share original poems.  Check back and read some of their work.  Let us know what you are up to during National Poetry Month.

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