National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month (for more information, see www.poets.org/npm). Although I am far more a reader of fiction than of poetry, I do enjoy poetry as well, and find it a source of inspiration, solace, and beauty. I was reminded of this yesterday when I was teaching a short poetry unit to my writing students, and found myself thoroughly enjoying discussing such poems as Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" (always a favorite of young people), Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise," and Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" with my students. One student, S., had written a wonderful poem that she shared with me and the class, to great applause and appreciation; this was especially impressive because English is her third language. I've also been thinking about poetry lately because several of the poets/professors at my university have recently received major awards and other recognitions; I would like to congratulate D.A. Powell, Aaron Shurin, and Dean Rader, as well as my longtime colleague and friend, poet Darrell Schramm, for their publications and achievements. And just tonight, I attended a poetry reading at the university in which one of the poets who read was our program assistant, Andrea Wise; she read some lovely, evocative poems. For those who would like more poetry in their lives, I recommend NPR's The Writer's Almanac, which can be subscribed to at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org; subscribing brings a poem as well as brief literary notes to your email inbox daily; it's a lovely way to start the day! Finally, I want to mention a poem that means a lot to me: "Otherwise," by Jane Kenyon. I am not sure what the copyright issues are, so I won't include it here, but it is easy to find by Googling it.