Celebrate National Poetry Month
A poem can make you feel more connected to nature – and to yourself. It can help you see the ocean, a car or even annoying little brothers in a new light. Poems can also help you honor loved ones or cope with loss. There’s no doubt about it, poems are magical.
April is National Poetry Month, and because you’re a part of our Teen Ink community, we know you want to celebrate this very special genre as much as we do.
The Academy of American Poets (who inaugurated NPM in 1996) offers 30 ways to celebrate the event. Follow through on one of the Academy’s suggestions, or come up with your own way to pay tribute to poetry.
Another great resource is Poetry 180 . Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the United States, selected 180 poems (the typical number of days in a school year) with high school students in mind. Browse the list of poems to find ones that move you. Maybe you’ll print one up and tape it to your locker, or slip it to your sweetie in between classes. Or, if you’re particularly proactive, you can suggest that your high school administrators make Poetry 180 a daily part of your school’s culture.
If none of the 180 strikes your fancy, then go to the Poetry Foundation’s website, which helps visitors find great poems by subject. .
We hope these resources help you celebrate poetry’s magic. Happy National Poetry Month!
P.S. Remember, Teen Ink is calling for book reviews for our June issue. Perhaps you want to read a book of poetry, write a review of it, and send it our way.
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