Hello Friends,
March Madness and a whole lot of other things may have been cancelled for this year, but one month that can never be cancelled is National Poetry Month. I happen to think the world needs poetry more than ever right now, I need poetry, and that you might poetry, too.
March Madness and a whole lot of other things may have been cancelled for this year, but one month that can never be cancelled is National Poetry Month. I happen to think the world needs poetry more than ever right now, I need poetry, and that you might poetry, too.
If there were no poetry on any day in the world, poetry would be invented that day. For there would be an intolerable hunger.
Muriel Rukeyeser
Unfortunately, I am not in a place to bring you a poem every day this April. But I will be sharing with you when I can.
For those of you who don’t know, I have been running this poem-a-day email list for the past thirteen Aprils (I can’t believe it’s been that long, but it has!). It is usually 30 days, 30 poems, 30 poets — but again, this year will not be every day.
No prior poetry experience is required to enjoy this poem-a-day list! I’m not going to send you some obtuse obscure long ode that’s impossible to understand (hopefully). What will I send you? Well, last April we read couplets, tercets, quatrains, haiku, sonnets, ghazal, spoken word, and trochaic dimeter; poems from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, and 2000s; poems from each of the past five decades; poems by Black poets, Latinx poets, Asian American poets, Arab American poets, Native American Poets, Mixed Race poets, and white poets; poems by people of different religions and economic backgrounds; poems by queer poets, straight poets, non-binary poets, men, women, and one six-year-old — just to name a few!
My selections do skew heavily, but not exclusively, to American poets writing in English — hence the name “Meet Me in 811,” the Dewey Decimal Code for American Poetry (and my favorite part of the library to wander around picking random books off the shelves). This poem-a-day series is strictly for personal use only; in almost all cases, I do not have poets’ nor poetry publishers’ permission to reproduce their work — this gives me a freedom other poem-a-day lists do not have to choose whichever poems I want to include, as well as the freedom to include commentary, analysis, personal stories, and other tidbits that I hope make poetry more accessible. I will also frequently refer you to the Academy of American Poets (poets.org), the actual creators and sponsors of National Poetry Month, for a more official poem-a-day email list.
Thanks, and Happy (Almost) National Poetry Month!
Love,
Ellen
For those of you who don’t know, I have been running this poem-a-day email list for the past thirteen Aprils (I can’t believe it’s been that long, but it has!). It is usually 30 days, 30 poems, 30 poets — but again, this year will not be every day.
No prior poetry experience is required to enjoy this poem-a-day list! I’m not going to send you some obtuse obscure long ode that’s impossible to understand (hopefully). What will I send you? Well, last April we read couplets, tercets, quatrains, haiku, sonnets, ghazal, spoken word, and trochaic dimeter; poems from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, and 2000s; poems from each of the past five decades; poems by Black poets, Latinx poets, Asian American poets, Arab American poets, Native American Poets, Mixed Race poets, and white poets; poems by people of different religions and economic backgrounds; poems by queer poets, straight poets, non-binary poets, men, women, and one six-year-old — just to name a few!
My selections do skew heavily, but not exclusively, to American poets writing in English — hence the name “Meet Me in 811,” the Dewey Decimal Code for American Poetry (and my favorite part of the library to wander around picking random books off the shelves). This poem-a-day series is strictly for personal use only; in almost all cases, I do not have poets’ nor poetry publishers’ permission to reproduce their work — this gives me a freedom other poem-a-day lists do not have to choose whichever poems I want to include, as well as the freedom to include commentary, analysis, personal stories, and other tidbits that I hope make poetry more accessible. I will also frequently refer you to the Academy of American Poets (poets.org), the actual creators and sponsors of National Poetry Month, for a more official poem-a-day email list.
Thanks, and Happy (Almost) National Poetry Month!
Love,
Ellen