Gearing up for National Poetry Month!

National Poetry month is almost here! Over on my writing coach blog, Chloe Yelena Miller,  I'll be hosting guest writers on the subject of poetry throughout the month. A couple of those posts will be about writing as a parent and I'll be sure to share some links here, too.

Not having the time to take an in-person class, I've signed up for a MOOC hosted by Stanford and led by the amazing poet Eavan Boland, Ten Premodern Poems by Women. If you're interested in MOOCs and looking for another course, University of Pennsylvania's MOOC Modern & Contemporary American Poetry will be starting again in September. With videos, online discussion and more, these courses are a great (free, low stress) way to keep up with your study of poetry. The weekly assignments help you to integrate poetry into your everyday life. Perfect for the busy mamma!

For more ways to celebrate, check out the Academy of American Poets' website. 

April Showers Bring Haiku

Last month was National Poetry Month and I challenged myself to write a poem a day, as others, like Janlori Goldman, did. I cheated a little - writing ahead or catching up here or there - but I otherwise produced something daily.

I aimed to write a haiku a day. At first the form seemed easy because of its length, but counting syllables and working within the confines of a form isn't as easy as it looks ("easy as it looks," that is, when it is done well.) I found myself counting syllables and listening to words more carefully throughout the day. Overall, it was a fruitful exercise. The resulting poems weren't extraordinary, but they challenged me to think about words differently and continued to weave poetry into my daily life.

The poems also documented moments of each day. Haruo Shirane writes about haiku, "The Japanese have been kind of satirized for carrying cameras around, but before the camera, it was the haiku. So you climbed the famous mountain and you composed the haiku. And that meant that you had been there. And you pulled out your diary and you read that poem and it reminded you that you were there or you could send that haiku to your friend to show that you had been there."

For more on haiku, read poet.org's definition or poet and translator Robert Hass' thoughts on the subject.

For more on National Poetry Month - over on my writing coach blog, I invited guest authors to write about poetry throughout the month. Hope you'll click through to read some of the posts. 

Our Son's First Poetry Reading

Last week, our son heard me publicly read my poems for the first time. Alongside Finishing Line Press poets Dorothy Bendel, David Ebenbach, and Pia Taavila-Borsheim, I stood at the front of a room in the Georgetown Neighborhood Library and recited poems. Seeing him in the audience was just delightful.

Knowing that this would be our son's first poetry reading, I chose my reading selection carefully. While I write a lot about grief and mourning, I wanted to read more celebratory poems, which meant a lot of poems about him. (Yes, my poems have changed greatly; that's for another post.) Of course, he's only a little over ten months old and can't understand the words, but he can understand tone.

My husband was holding our son in the back of the room and when I first started talking, our son turned his head towards me, made an O with his mouth and started to (vaguely) point and coo towards me. He seemed very surprised. I couldn't help but smile; it was all I could do not to run to the back of the room to snuggle with him. After a few moments, my husband took our son into the hallway outside the room so he could crawl, make noise, but still hear me.

I was proud of our son and look forward to taking him to many more readings. Perhaps the Dodge Poetry Festival this fall? 

April: National Poetry Month

Time to celebrate! April is National Poetry Month. Throughout the month, I'll be hosting guest poetry-related posts on my writing coach blog. I hope you'll stop by!

I'm also looking forward to reading at two Washington, D.C., library branches with other local poets this month. I'd love to see you there:

Georgetown Neighborhood Library
Finishing Line Press reading: David Ebenbach, Chloe Yelena Miller, W.M. Rivera, and Pia Taavila-Borsheim
Wednesday, April 9th, 7 PM
Facebook event page

Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library (D.C.)
Poetry reading: Dan Brady, Michael Gushue and Chloe Yelena Miller
Wednesday, April 23rd, 7 PM
Facebook event page