The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

Poetics

Kathleen Helen Strom,
Glennis Hobbs, and
Christine Henderson

National Poetry Month,
Seventh Anniversary - April 2002

In April 1996, The Academy of American Poets launched an annual celebration dedicated to promoting poets and poetry. According to the American National Poetry Society, this unique event has grown into the "largest and most democratic celebration of any of the arts in America with an estimated audience that now reaches into the tens of millions."

There are seven goals for National Poetry Month:

• To highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
• To introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry
• To bring poets and poetry to the public in immediate and innovative ways
• To make poetry a more important part of the school curriculum
• To increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
• To encourage increased publication, distribution, and sales of poetry books
• To increase public and private philanthropic support for poets and poetry

Writers Village University is dedicated to furthering these goals through education online. We are currently offering approximately sixty classes and workshops in poetry, as well as a large curriculum of writing courses in other genre. One of the poets we studied recently was Langston Hughes. (P125/Arlene Lawson) It is gratifying to note that this beloved American poet was chosen to be honoured this year on the 100th anniversary of his birth. On his actual birthdate of February 1, the United States Postal Service issued a Langston Hughes stamp as part of its Black Heritage series. A column about Langston Hughes and his poetry will be featured in the April issue of T-Zero.

Langston Hughes Remembered

In his honour there will be a National Poster and advertising campaign in which some 180,000 posters will be distributed to schools, libraries and book stores across America. There will be a Langston Hughes Poetry Day on April 2. A tribute to Hughes at New York City's famous Town Hall on April 30. And a Centenary Exhibit on the web at The Academy of American Poets.

Other poets singled out for honours this year include: Gertrude Stein, W. H. Auden, Marie Ponsot & Shel Silverstein and E. E. Cummings.

From Sea to Sea

Given the political climate of the United States these days, it is refreshing to find that the phrase, "from sea to shining sea", can describe a simple celebration. From New York to Georgia, Arkansas to Illinois, Texas and Arizona to Oregon and Washington, National Poetry Month is being heralded in libraries, recital halls, coffee shops and even book stores.

It doesn't matter if your brand of verse runs to the epic poems of Homer, or the wit and humor of Ogden Nash, or to the more modern poets. What does matter is that you allow the words to touch you and that you share your enthusiasm with others. If you are a closet poetry reader, join others at your local library and quietly compare your favorites and sample the tastes of others in a small group. If you speak of poetry someone will listen. Stand up at a reading and show others what you like and tell why you like it. Someone will understand.

Poetry in New York City

Starting off a little earlier, the week of March 17 is Dialogue Through Poetry Week, an effort to unite not only our country, but the world through a shared passion for poetry.

The National Arts Club in NYC held a Launch Party and Poetry Reading on Friday, March 1.

The New School in NYC will host readings March 20, featuring Breyten Breytenbach, Bob Holman, Sharon Olds and others.

The American Poetry Society, NSPS affiliates, and various local writing and poetry clubs are sponsoring contests, readings, workshops, and publication of poetry in April.

The Poetry of Plays (Barnard College): A two-day conference on April 5 and 6 will feature women poets and playwrights. Plays by Gertrude Stein, Leslie Scalapino, Brighde Mullins, Lee Ann Brown, Christine Hume, Jena Osman, Renee Gladman, Anna Rabinowitz, Susan Wheeler and others will be presented.

In Texas the Austin International Poetry Festival is being held April 18-21.

Seattle, Washington is having a Poetry Festival in April.

The Oregon State Poetry Association is hosting readings around the state on April 13, and their Spring Conference is being held on April 27.

Throughout other states, local poetry societies and literature groups are hosting a variety of readings and workshops. Most will be in the form of small gatherings where favorites will be discussed and shared. Check your library, bookstore, college or university. Something related to poetry is going on near you. Detailed information on National Poetry Month throughout America can be found at The Academy of American Poets' site on National Poetry Month.

So there we have it. By national proclamation April is the month for poetry and poets to reign supreme. What more will they have to offer across this great land, we wondered? We discovered that bards and booksellers, libraries and legislatures, schools and speakers, musicians and mountain climbers, are poised and ready.

During National Poetry Month there will be...

Poetry in the Desert
In the Valley of the Sun, on Saturday, April 6 all roads lead to The Arizona Book Festival at Hance Deck Park on Central Avenue in Phoenix. This fifth annual jam-packed event is sponsored by The Arizona Humanities and other organizations celebrating literature in Arizona. Last year's event drew a crowd in excess of 12,000.

Premiere activities for this year's Festival are:
The Main Stage Presentation by authors Barbara Kingsolver, Ana Castillo, Lois Lowry, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Diana Gabaldon and Sherman Alexie.

The Children's Stage with authors Lynne Cravath, Rick Walton, Max Grover, B.G. Hennessy, David Christiana, Conrad Storad. And illustrators Jean Ekman Adams, Lynne Cravath, Katalin Ehling, Michael Lacapa.

Other events include: Educational Programs coordinated by Arizona Highways, Arizona State University, Yavapai College, Maricopa County Library, Glendale Public Library, and the Sharlot Hall Historical Society, featuring Cowboy Poets. And there will be Book Award Winners, Romance writers, panel discussions, exhibitions, entertainment, children's crafts and activities, hundreds of books to browse and buy. And of course what would a book festival be without autograph sessions? Admission is free. Complete details online at the Arizona Humanities Council.

Cowboy Poets are a unique feature of Arizona cultural life. To learn more about their poetry and performance schedules throughout the year, several web sites offer information and poetry. One that I particularly liked was
here. They offer a youth program and student poetry contests.

The Arizona State Poetry Society invite the public to a free Spring Festival on April 13 at the Scottsdale Mustang Library. A morning workshop on writing poetry will be presented by Beckian Fritz-Goldberg, a published poet, professor, and director of creative writing at Arizona State University. The afternoon presentation will be given by Jeannine Savard, a published poet and professor at ASU. During the day, awards will be presented to the winners of ASPS pre-festival poetry contest which closes March 11. And there will also be opportunity for members of the public to participate by reading their own poetry.

The Tempe Public Library is celebrating National Poetry Month with readings and moderated discussion by featured poets on four Tuesdays in April.

April 9: Lora Tohe, an Associate Professor in the English department at ASU. Lora Tohe, Dine, was born and raised on the Navajo reservation. An Associate Professor in the English department at ASU, her book of poetry and stories, No Parole Today, received Poetry of the Year Award by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Recognized for her contributions to American Indian literature through "Those Who Speak the World into Place: An Honoring of Native Writers," made possible through Joy Harjo and the Lila-Wallace Reader's Digest Fund. Her current work is called Talking Woman.

April 16: Sean Nevin, who teaches at ASU, and for the Arizona Commission on the Arts as an Artist-in-Education. He served as the poetry editor for Hayden's Ferry Review. His poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, The East Valley Tribune, Long Island Quarterly, Medicinal Purposes, and Barbaric Yawp. He received the 1999 Dorothy M. Hood Prize for Poetry, was a finalist in Arizona's 18th Annual Statewide Poetry Contest (2001), and was awarded ASU's first Faculty Emeriti Association Fellowship in 2001. Nevin, originally from New Jersey, currently resides in Tempe.

April 23: Lois Roma Deeley, whose poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies nationwide, including Looking for Home, Faultline, Iris, and Confluence. She was the Honorable Mention choice for the IX Tucson Poetry Festival, as well as being a finalist in the 2000 Emily Dickinson Award poetry competition. She serves as one of two poetry editors for National Forum. Roma-Deeley teaches creative writing at Paradise Valley Community College, where she is a full-time professor.

April 30: Thea S. Kutick associate editor at Bilingual Review/Press, who received her MFA from the University of Virginia. She received a Henry Hoyns Fellowship and the 2001 Arizona Commission on the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry, was selected for First Place at the 2000 Tucson Poetry Festival by Arthur Sze, and for the 2001 Black Rock Press Broadside Competition. Her poetry has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Arts & Letters, Clackamas Literary Review, Poems & Plays, and the online journal Valparaiso Poetry Review.

The City of Mesa Library will present finalists from the January Poetry Contest. Winners of 'The Battle of the Bards' will read their entries on April 4, in the Main Library. This contest is comprised of two age groups: Teen - 12-17, and Adult - 18 and up.

In Tucson, Student Poetry Contest is held annually by the University of Arizona, UofA Poetry Center, and the Academy of American Poets. The contest, open to full-time graduate or undergraduate students at the University of Arizona, offers cash prizes and publication in the Poetry Center Spring Newsletter. Winners will be asked to read their entries at the Spring Reading Series, April 10.

In Flagstaff the Northern Arizona Book Festival will bring together a diverse group of about 20 acclaimed writers for a 3-day weekend of readings, panel discussions, workshops, and other literary events. The Festival takes place in downtown Flagstaff and at Northern Arizona University, April 12-14.

Poetry in Canada

National Poetry Month in Canada
National Poetry Month was established in Canada in April, 1999 by the League of Canadian Poets. It brings together schools, publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, and poets across the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in Canada's culture. Communities and businesses participate through readings, festivals, book displays, and other events. The League has been in existence for thirty-six years and has a membership of 550 professionally published poets.

Provincial Legislatures Across Canada
Edita Petrauskaite, Executive Director of the League said celebrations will begin early on March 21, 2002. On that date poetry readings will be held in eleven provincial legislatures from British Columbia to the Northwest Territories, across the country to Newfoundland and Labrador to celebrate both World Poetry Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Racism. Some of the poets who will be participating in these cross-Canada readings include P. K. Page, Dennis Lee, Sue MacLeod, Dennis Lee, Fred Wah, George Morrissette, and Glen Sorestad.

Senator Grafstein and the League of Canadian Poets will also host a poetry breakfast in the national capital of Ottawa.

Bilingual Poetry Contest
This year the League held a bilingual poetry contest for Canadian youth. The winning poems of the Poetic Licence Contest for Canadians will be posted on the League's second website. The provincial winners of the contest will also be reading their poems at the legislatures on World Poetry Day.

National Poet Laureate
Petrauskaite also announced that in December, 2001, a bill was proclaimed to create the office of a National Poet Laureate for Canada. Proceedings are now underway to choose the poet and the name will be announced between April and June 2002. She also says that part of the Poet Laureate's mandate will be to "make people aware of their rich Canadian cultural heritage and that poetry makes it easy to communicate."

Toronto Poetry College
In Toronto, plans are underway for another main event, the Poetry College, some time in April. Last year's celebration featured fourteen events and was held on three blocks of College Street with thirty poets participating in readings and workshops.

(W)rites of Spring
Deidre Dwyer, the League of Canadian Poets' representative for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador is organizing a reading (W)rites of Spring to be held in Halifax around April 18.

Poetry in Motion
Halfway across the continent in Winnipeg, the Manitoba Writers Guild is planning to launch Poetry in Motion in conjunction with Winnipeg Transit during Manitoba Book Week which takes place during the week of April 20-27. Poetry in Motion features the work of six Manitoba poets and their poetry is placed on bus cards where according to Carlene Rummery, the Guild's Director of Marketing and Communication "the weary working guy can read poetry on his way to work."

Manitoba Book Week
The Manitoba Association of Booksellers is also helping to celebrate Manitoba Book Week through the launchings of several new poetry books. On April 18, Jon Paul Fiorentino reads from his book "transcona fragments" at Ace Art Gallery. On April 23, Clive Holden will read from "Trains of Winnipeg" (Cyclops Press) at the Winnipeg Centennial Library; this is a new hybrid of performed poetry by Holden with musical accompaniment. April 24, Turnstone Press presents an evening of poetry with reading by David Arnason (author of "Skrag"), Catherine Hunter (author of "Lunar Wake"), and Audrey Poetker-Thiessen (author of "Making Strange to Yourself") at Chapters Polo Festival. In Manitoba's Interlake a celebration of French language Métis literature will be held on April 25 with reading by Roger Léveillé (author of "Le Soleil Du Lac Se Couche") and Métis poets published in the "Anthologie de la Poésie Franco-Manitobaine.

Manitoba North
North of the 54th parallel, the Flin Flon Writers Guild, Flin Flon Public Library and the Flin Flon Toastmasters Club are working together to host an evening celebrating Canadian poetry on April 25, 2002 at the Flin Flon Public Library in honour of National Poetry Month. Local poets will read their own works. Representatives of the community have also been invited to read the works of Canadian poets.

Beat Cinema
To round out National Poetry Month, Cinamatheque will present Beat Cinema: Late Night Rapping. Screenings include: "Pull My Daisy" by Robert Frank/Narration by Jack Kerouac, an avant garde classic about the lives of New York beats featuring Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso with music by David Amram; and "Joe" by David Middleton. Shot in the lamented El Strato Lounge on Gottingen Street "Joe" consists of three hardboiled poems by Beverly Elkins, transplanted to film through onscreen narration and still photography.

And there will be.....

Poetry on the Mountains
The United Nations General assembly has declared 2002 the "International Year of Mountains" to foster understanding of the worldwide importance of mountain ecosystems. To further this aim poetry will be read from twenty-four mountaintops around the world, including the seven highest peaks on the seven continents. This program with the poetic title of "Poetry on the Peaks" is sponsored by Dialogue Through Poetry.

These mountain top readings will coincide with the annual Dialogue Through Poetry Week and UNESCO's World Poetry Day during the week of March 17, 2002. Over 200 poetry readings in 150 cities are scheduled worldwide to discuss "Can poetry help create a culture of peace and non-violence in the world?"

Included in these mountaintop readings will be excerpts from Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. A unique feature of this event will be the excitement of a race to the summit of Mt. Everest, by an all-Sherpa team, hoping to beat the world record of 18 hours. On the summit in April, their leader, Kazi Sherpa, will read a poem by the Dalai Lama.

On other mountaintops there will be poems by Pablo Neruda, Gary Snyder, Rumi, Wislawa Szymborska, William Blake, Han Shan Walt Whitman and many others.

And yet, in all of this, we have but a sample of the broad spectrum of poetry, as it manifests itself throughout society, in North America and beyond, in this National Poetry Month, 2002. Obviously poetry is alive and well, confidently expressing the essence of humanity in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of gilded words. Walt Whitman said it best in these excerpts from...

I Hear America Singing
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to no one else,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.