Today is the last day of National Poetry Month 2019. I’ve enjoyed reading a poem (or two) sent to my inbox daily from POEM A DAY, Poets.org and KNOPF POETRY Poem-A-Day April 2019 (you’ll need to search for Poem a Day to find this and sign up—next year.) I’d feel sad, but there are may places on the internet to find poems. Here’s a couple more addresses:
The Poetry Foundation Loads of resources
American Verse Project A collection of American poetry pre-1920
Contemporary American Poetry Archive Full collections of selected poets
Poetry Society of America Full of great info, readings and a blog
Most of the sites include audio podcasts and blogs. Every day can be national poetry day! And if you’re reading this blog post, you probably write poetry as well. Have you searched lately for places to publish? There are many. First go to Poets and Writers for extensive listings for chapbooks, calls for manuscripts, contests and conferences. The organization will send you a weekly prompt for poetry, memoir and fiction. And they’ve got great articles, too.
Here are some other places:
It’s not over! Read and write poetry all year.
Join a group. Take a class. Celebrate a poet!
I’m celebrating the poet and book that set me on poetic fire as a teen:
And Let Our Two Selves Speak
For Lawrence Ferlinghetti at 100 years old
And I am waiting for a rebirth of wonder
A Coney Island of the Mind in one hand
a cone of sugared churros in the other.
Come lie with me and be my love,
clink our glasses, a bubbling prosecco
at the top of this life
while the dog trots freely in the street
And let our two selves speak
where
a ring dove cooed in a cove
we kiss and take in
all the world offers:
raindrops and firestorms, madmen and kindness,
still deep lakes, and murder, weddings,
hive collapse and high rises, fake news
and novels; farmers and famine; poets
and pundits and
have you ever stopped to consider
to wonder
the long street
filled with all the people of the world
and all the possibilities of the world
And have enough of kissing me
And have enough of waiting
perpetually and forever
a renaissance of wonder.
We carry it in our hearts.
Building a Better Story 