Poetry Month is coming to a close. I hope you’ve taken a chance and opened your mind and heart to some new verses, explored new poetic vistas, and discovered some new poetic insights.
Just in case you want to continue celebrating poetry, I have some other dates you can participate in!
National Poem on Your Pillow Day! Always the first Tuesday in May, this year it is May 3. On this day put a poem on your spouses or significant other’s pillow, a child’s pillow, your roommate or dorm mate — and give them something memorable, be it fun or deep or even odd.
National Take A Poet to Work Day! Always the third Wednesday in July, this year it is July 20. This is the day you take something of your favorite poet to work, set it beside your phone or calendar, your computer or on your door. Celebrate the day by introducing everything about your favorite poet to everyone else.
Random Acts of Poetry Day! Always the first Wednesday in October, this year it is Oct 5. Leave random bits of poetry in public places — on the bus, on a park bench, on the train, in your spouses’ car, on the school bus, in your break room at work. Make them fun and interesting. Pithy or fun.
Let these be added ways to include poetry in your life, make it fun and introduce poetry to others. No one said poetry had to be dull or hard to understand.
I leave you with a poem I’ve come to love. I hope you’ll share this with your students, your friends, your family, your readers. Let us keep poetry alive long after Poetry Month has passed.
Introduction to Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
—Billy Collins
Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins. From The Apple that Astonished Paris, 1996. University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Ark.
Tomorrow – come by to read an excerpt from the Magic Princess books as we draw National Princess Week to a close! You should enjoy some of PJ’s writing and awaken your inner fierce warrior!
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WIP (Works in Progress):
– NEW BOOK OF POETRY! – expected release July 2016
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story (part one complete)
On the Desk: (next reading): In Shining Armor (#4) Elliott James
Off the Desk (book just finished): Soulless by Gail Carriger (#1 in a series)
Coming Soon: Let’s Talk About Your Writing!
(You may have seen this sneak peek if you are following my