April is National Poetry Month

You knew I couldn't let this month slip by without recognizing National Poetry Month. Many people turn their nose up at the thought of reading poetry or even attempting to write it. Others find it soothing, fulfilling, and delightful.

We've been noting it every April since 1996 when the Academy of American Poets organized the celebration to help Americans be more aware of and appreciate poetry. 

Our first introduction to poetry came in the form of the nursery rhymes that parents read to and taught to their small children. Children are attracted to the sing-song rhythm of those rhymes. They ended up in picture books as well as told. They were short and easy to memorize. The history of those rhymes is not as directed to little ones but often depicted political thoughts of the times. Imagine writing a few rhymes about our politics today. Might be pretty stormy. 

When we were in the early grades at school, the teacher read poems about the falling leaves, or springtime, or clouds and other simple subjects. The early readers occasionally had short poems as did the magazines for children. They still do. 

By the time we got to high school, poetry was not much fun anymore. Mostly because we had to do two things--memorize and figure out what it was about. Neither one was much fun. I think it would have been better if the high school teachers had let the students read and enjoy a poem, then perhaps point out the beauty of the words and phrases instead of asking "What did Keats mean when he wrote....?" I've always felt that we don't necessarily know what the poet was referring to, why he/she wrote or what they really meant when they used metaphors that felt like a blank wall to a high school student. I also didn't care a twit about meter and rhyme and whether it was a sonnet or something else when I was a teen-ager.

So, it is little wonder that many people were turned off by poetry. Even so, others enjoyed it and continued reading and also writing it which is what has kept it alive today. I developed a love for reading poetry even though I didn't always understand it. The more I read, the more it appealed to me. Even now, I don't always 'get' what the poet is trying to tell me. But that's alright. I love the flow of the words, the rhythm, the lilt, the images the words bring to me and the thoughts within the poem. 

What do you especially like or dislike about poetry? If you have not liked it in the past, why not give it another try? As we mature, we see many things in a different light. 

Tomorrow's post will deal with writing poetry.