April is National Poetry Month
Read, Write, and Share Poetry all Month
April is one of my favorite months. Spring has arrived, Easter is coming, and poetry is flowing. Yes, April has many attributes and one of them is that it is National Poetry Month.
Poetry means a lot to me. I’ve been writing poetry since I was in elementary school. As a child, I loved writing rhyming poems. I could write them for hours. This practice continued well into college. I would subscribe to writing magazines and even submit poems to publications. My first poetry acceptance was in my high school’s literary journal. In almost every issue, I had a poem. They were short but powerful pieces reflecting my thoughts and feelings. I received a lot of compliments from classmates about my poems. This fueled my desire to be a writer.
But life always gets in the way. By the time I reached college, I was still interested in writing poetry and sending out my work, but I realized I had to be more practical. My desire to become a journalist and travel the world was supplanted by having a career that made money. In my freshman year in college, I decided to become a psychologist. I felt it was a field in which I could make a difference, working with children.
After enduring packed auditoriums and a C-average in the course, I switched back to journalism for my sophomore year. Unfortunately, finances forced me to return home and go to work. I spent a semester at UMass Boston. That year was fraught with commuting to classes, working for a mean girl boss, and navigating social life. It was not a fun year.
I ended up working at an insurance company and utilizing their tuition reimbursement benefits to return to school. I obtained my undergraduate degree at Suffolk University. I had an interest in law because of the research and writing aspect of the career. I had already secured a paralegal degree from Newbury College. I was on track to apply to law school and become a corporate lawyer.
Again, life intervened. I realized that while I did love researching and writing, I was not enamored with a law career. That and an unfortunate comment made to me by my then boyfriend, steered me back towards a writing career. I returned to school to pursue writing at Emerson College.
Fast forward and it’s 2023, I have been writing on this platform for the past couple of years. I returned to poetry when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. Poetry helped me deal with my diagnosis as well as my mother’s subsequent cancer diagnosis. Poetry helped me to deal with the fear and pain of treatments and the worries I had for myself and my mom. I cared for my mom as best as I could, but after a short remission, my mm’s cancer returned full force, taking her from us in 2017.
With the pandemic in its third year, poetry has been a loyal companion. It has taken me across the country from Vermont to California. Writing has brought me to Atlanta and Washington D..C. I won my first poetry award in 2021. All along, I have been published in several journals and magazines. I’ve even had my poetry printed on sidewalks. Every time it rains my words are visible on the pavement.
So, April means a lot to me. Poetry has done a lot for me. The genre has added richness and variety to my life. I’ve met a lot of people through poetry. I’m finally working on a full-length poetry collection which I hope to publish this year.
So read poetry, share poetry, and write your own poetry. There are many websites supporting the celebration of poetry like allpoetry.com, and poetry.org. Check out poetry publications like Poets & Writers, American Poetry Review, and Poetry.
Poetry is everywhere. Enjoy!
