Coming Up: April Poems

The month of November hosts the annual writers' "Man, I am going to get this thing written!" month. Or, National Novel-Writing Month. Or, NaNoWriMo. Not surprisingly, I have quite a few friends with writerly inclinations, and the month of November comes with online groups, real-world get-togethers, constant word-count updates, and the like filling up my facebook newsfeed. I've never been one to get in on the phenomenon in part because November was usually too full of school work for my schedule to allow "fun" writing, and in another part because I've never really felt I had any story ideas that were worth dragging out for more than thirty or so pages. (When I was little, I wrote tons of little stories, which I was convinced would turn into epic novels one day, but somehow I've grown out of that.) So I encourage my friends and admire their dedication, and get on with making plans for my birthday.

But then April rolls around and it's National Poetry Month. And I feel like I should be, you know, writing poems. But you notice the word "writing" is missing from the title there? It's more like Black History Month, where there it's all about education and bringing a certain topic to the wider attention of the public. From poets.org:

National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern. We hope to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practiced and appreciated.

 Which isn't to say we shouldn't be writing poems, but the focus here is definitely on educating. And I am absolutely all for making poetry more accessible and celebrating its ability to sustain not only itself, but also out own selves. To kick off the "more poetry" thing, I point you in the direction of my roommate and friend, Insley – her blog (http://euloniacountry.wordpress.com), and her brand new, hot-off-the-press chapbook DIRT GODS. I confess I have not finished reading it yet (I read poetry books deliberately slowly, and I only just got it yesterday), but I'm already in love with it. Go read her blog and get a taste for yourself. This past Friday's Seersucker Shots featured Insley herself, alongside Chad Davidson and Chad Faries. It was an impressive line-up, and definitely motivated me to scribble some more words on pages.

And that is what I intend to do for the month of April. Another friend of mine, Lindsay took November to do a poem-a-day challenge instead of a novel (what's a poet to do?), and found it to be quite productive. (You can read some of her musings on her blog: http://ontopofgoosehill.blogspot.com.) Some of her poems born of that challenge have gotten into real-life literary publications, which is just as exciting as having a book of your own. So here I am, no schoolwork to get in the way, a job that doesn't follow me home, and a porch full of sunshine and plants. I'll be pushing myself to write seriously every day, and some tidbits from my endeavors will be coming up here throughout the month, depending how my efforts go. Here is the first of many, and another endorsement for you to go read Insley's work:

It’s okay if you touch this book

with hands dirty from the garden

because it is called DIRT GODS.

And even though each page

is perfectly white and the cover

was pressed with her own clean hands,

the words are all about picking up the dirt

and finding out what we worship

every day on the dusty roads

and in the blossoming desert.

The gods are in our abandoned houses,

they inhabit animal skulls and snails,

they call out from the bathtub and river.

When you read, you are conducting

a ritual. And it’s okay if your hands are dirty.