Celebrating Poetry

April is National Poetry Month. There are so many ways to celebrate.

You could read a poem a day. You can find a new poem every day at the Poetry Foundation. If you’re looking for new work by contemporary poets, check out poets.org.

You can celebrate National Poem in your Pocket Day (this year it’s April 28). Traditionally, people carry a small poem in their pocket, one they can pull out and share with others. Here’s a great resource for activities related to pocket-poem day.

You can write your own poems. They can be small enough to carry in your pocket or long enough to take up an entire page. The cool thing about poetry: you don’t have to be an expert to write poetry. In fact, you don’t even have to write things that rhyme! All you need is a pencil, a scrap of paper, and this handy-dandy poetic license.

Here’s one I wrote a couple years ago about springtime around my house:

Mom says I have muddy feet – 

playing in the garden feet,

chasing Monarch butterflies 

and watching tiger beetle feet,

standing still while crickets hop across my toes

with tickly feet.

But when mom hollers “grandma’s here”

I race back home on speedy feet.

I invite you to share one of your poems in the comments below. Have fun!