This April, my life is crammed full, overstuffed and brimming, with poetry and possibility. I am happily hogwild in muddy, muddy spring. National Poetry Month arrived in a dreary dateless winter of responsibility and irresponsibility—to community, family, self, selfhood itself, in no particular order or proportion, no one to blame or shake a pointy stick at, but  enough is enough.
Who even KNEW a Poetry Intervention was called for, possible, heard of, in the works?
Last year, NaPoWriMo [“National Poetry Writing Month is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April”] just snuck past me. I arrived on the secretfacebookNaPoWriMoforWWf(a)C page a day late (and apparently a dollar short) and indulged in a last blast of all-or-nothing, black-and-white thinking, declaring myself too late to join the fun.
THIS year, I was there with metaphorical bells on, and am loving the journey. (Due to a much-needed, long-desired, totally-worth-it trip to see my oldest child this past weekend, where my experiments in writing and posting poems on my phone from far away with mixed success, I am even a few poem-days behind, but I’m not letting it get me down. I know I’ll “catch up” with poetry, with my poetic process, a concept that delights and amuses me no end.)
Some 34 members of this traveling party are writing/reading/responding-witnessingto/revelingin/celebrating National Poetry Month/poetry in general/the poetic process/being in creative community, and having a blast. We post our fragrant, fluffy, fresh-baked, homemade poems hot out of the oven, and lift up toothsome crumbs for one another in tribute to one more experimental batch of soul nourishment in this tasty, transformative endeavor.
In addition, I am this month holding two Practicums in fulfillment of this component of the Fall 2015 Conscious Feminine Leadership Academy training in Bloomington. The first circle, held on April 9th, was an intimate gathering, where we explored Free Verse in a supportive, casual learning-and-sharing experience. I am grateful to the generous support and caring from our women writing community, those who were able to be present for this special time and those who attended in spirit from afar; it was a wonderful, deeply meaningful time. This Saturday, April 23, from 1-3 at the Poplar Grove Schoolhouse, we will think and talk about the various roles, large and small, Form can play in poetry. There are still some spots open, and I encourage anyone who might be interested to contact me directly. (mpeckham@indiana.edu or 812-361-5047)
It’s not too late to join the fun! It may be Day 18, my 57th Birthday, eternally infernally election season, but you, too, can tune up your heart’s music, defy gravity, or at least counteract black-and-white-thinking by:
- joining our (not so secret) facebook community and trying your hand at daily composition, at least once
- checking out each day’s prompt at the NaPoWriMo site http://www.napowrimo.net/ : “(optional, as always)! Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates “the sound of home.” Think back to your childhood, and the figures of speech and particular ways of talking that the people around you used, and which you may not hear anymore. My grandfather and mother, in particular, used several phrases I’ve rarely heard any others say, and I also absorbed certain ways of talking living in Charleston, South Carolina that I don’t hear on a daily basis in Washington, DC. Coax your ear and your voice backwards, and write a poem that speaks the language of home, and not the language of adulthood, office, or work. Happy writing!”
- signing up to receive the Poem-a-Day in your inbox at Poets.org
- celebrating Poem-in-your-pocket day on April 21. See poets.org/national-poetry-month/poem-your-pocket-day : “people celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others throughout the day at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, and on Twitter using the hashtag #pocketpoem”
- tweeting your tiny poems and possibly hearing them on-air with NPR using the hashtag #NPRpoetry Details at http://www.npr.org/2016/04/02/472808961/i-think-that-i-shall-never-see-a-poem-as-lovely-as-one-on-atc
- simply reading a poem, new or old, beloved or befuddling, to yourself, your beloved, your child, your dog, your shadow
Partake! Enjoy! Have fun!
Mary Peckham for The Poplar Grove Muse