Poetry Friday in Poetry Month

Hello Poets,

As you are reading this, I'm just starting spring break! This year, I'm visiting family and will be away for Easter.

I admire poet friends able to write daily poems throughout the month. Maybe someday I'll do that. This year, I've sent out a poetry month postcard with a landay to all the poet friends I have addresses for--that's my tiny 2025 poetry project. If you would like a poetry postcard, send me your address via the blog link!

A landay for Poetry Month 2025

Poets sow wild words in April–

growing hope for untamed fields of blooming poems in May.

Linda Mitchell 

Hotarugusa - April. [187] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2009630232/>

Many thanks to poets in our community for sharing opportunities to engage with poetry. 

Jone Rush MacCulloch held a poetry salon last weekend. Participants on zoom wrote to prompts It was a wonderful hour dedicated to composing poems and I loved it! Thank you, Jone.

Ethical ELA has offered a daily poetry writing prompt with a place to share writing in April's Poetry Month #verselove Open Write. Several days, I've found myself free-writing for a half hour in the early morning without ending at a poem...just enjoying the lovely time to string words together that don't have anything to do with my day job.

On April 2nd I was able to drive into DC to poet Maggie Smith's talk at the MLK Jr. branch of the DC public library. It was super fun to meet other poets from our community that I have never or don't get to see in person very often. While there, I picked up Smith's book, Dear Writer. Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life. I jotted a few of Smith's words in my notebook from her talk.

• Can't talk about writing without talking about life
• Attention is a form of love. If you love the world, give it the gift of your attention. Keep falling in love with the familiar
• Use craft as oven mitts to hold hot material until it can be handed off to someone else. For example, when writing about something very close, it helps Smith to write in the 3rd person to get the words out
• Failure is part of the process
• If you don't want to be surprised, don't make art

Marcie, Linda, Heidi 

Finally, am am enjoying Ann E. Burg's Force of Nature, a novel of Rachel Carson. Illustrations by Sophie Blackhall. This is a beautiful book and I highly recommend pairing it with the American Experience documentary of Carson.

Scholastic Press 2024

Now I'm off to catch up with our Progressive poem--another fun celebration of poetry this month. Many thanks to Irene at Live Your Poem for hosting the round-up this weekend. I'll see you at her blog for more poetry!