Apr 1, 2017

Celebrating NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

April is one of my favorite months because it is National Poetry Month, an entire month to celebrate POETRY! Since 1996, poets and poetry lovers around the world have participated in this annual celebration, spearheaded by the Academy of American Poets

One of my favorite things about National Poetry Month is the annual Poem in Your Pocket Day, which will be observed on Thursday, April 27 this year. On this day, poetry lovers are encouraged to carry a favorite poem in their pockets and share it with friends and family. I am already thinking about which poem I will choose! Here is one of my contenders, a favorite poem about spring written by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

An April Day
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

     When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,
'T is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs
    The first flower of the plain.

    I love the season well,
When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,
Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell
    The coming-on of storms.

    From the earth's loosened mould
The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;
Though stricken to the heart with winter's cold,
    The drooping tree revives.

    The softly-warbled song
Comes from the pleasant woods, and colored wings
Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along
    The forest openings.

    When the bright sunset fills
The silver woods with light, the green slope throws
Its shadows in the hollows of the hills,
    And wide the upland glows.

    And when the eve is born,
In the blue lake the sky, o'er-reaching far,
Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,
    And twinkles many a star.

    Inverted in the tide
Stand the gray rocks, and trembling shadows throw,
And the fair trees look over, side by side,
    And see themselves below.

    Sweet April! many a thought
Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed;
Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought,
    Life's golden fruit is shed.

Click here here for more information about this year’s National Poetry Month festivities. Happy Spring, and Happy Writing!