Gearing up for National Poetry Month

Who says April is the cruellest month? (No, that's not a trivia question. If you're reading this, you probably know.) Not only do I celebrate buttercups and hyacinths, but I celebrate National Poetry Month. If you want to join the celebration, check out some of these cites and titles.

You may be a day late, but see Robert Lee Brewer's daily prompts at Poetic Asides. He issues a challenge to write a poem a day (first draft only--revision can wait until May) and to post on his site. He even offers some mystery incentive if you follow through for the whole month. Try it.

Garrison Keillor's daily Writer's Almanac on radio and the internet provides a poem a day, along with historical and literary anniversaries of note.

If you can't take your refrigerator everywhere you go, try virtual Magnetic Poetry. This works just like the boxed set--on your computer screen. Just click and drag.

Former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser also writes a weekly column that appears online and in newspapers across the country, American Life in Poetry.

Billy Collins, Kooser's predecessor, offers Poetry 180, a site particularly geared to school schedules, offering 180 poems for the 180 days of the traditional school year, hoping for a 180-degree turn in attitudes toward poetry.

If you google National Poetry Month, you will find a treasure trove of ideas. I have always enjoyed Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project.

Other great sites are Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, Poetry Slam, Inc., and the Love Poem Generator http://www.links2love.com/poem_generator.htm (for the romantic, but lazy poet).

Stay tuned. Later this week, I plan to share a list of my favorite books of poetry, especially those written in this century!

Gearing up for National Poetry Month