BY SAM SCHROEDER
While we may be stuck at home being quarantined, we are still able to celebrate National Poetry Month. All of April is National Poetry Month, which means it is a perfect time to focus on poetry rather than everything that seems a bit scary in the world today.
To help everyone beat the boredom or distract you from the COVID-19 situation, I wanted to give a list of ways to celebrate National Poetry Month. These are a few of the things I have done to celebrate:
1. Find an e-book of poetry online.
There are plenty of books to choose from out there, and being stuck at home doesn’t mean we don’t have access to them. Here are a couple of my favorite e-books of poetry to read:
- Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
- the sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur
New Rivers Press also has plenty of poetry books to read and order online, so you can get them without leaving the comfort of your home. Some of my favorite books by New Rivers Press include:
- throughsmoke by Jehanne Dubrow
- Deep Calls to Deep by Jane Medved
- I Will Tell This Story to the Sun Until You Remember That You Are the Sun by Erin Slaughter
All three of those books capture something different through poetic language and imagery and have helped me appreciate poetry more.
2. Write poetry about nature while taking a walk.
Since we have so much free time right now, I have found myself going outside more and enjoying the warmer weather that has started to come around. This could also be a perfect chance to write poetry before Earth Day arrives on April 22.
3. Write poetry about how you have been handling the current times.
4. Write letters to your friends with poems included.
I have decided to write poems to send to my closer friends so they can be surprised when a letter arrives for them in the mail. It can be something special to show that you care for those people in these difficult times.
5. Start an email or social media chain of poems with your friends.
6. Listen to spoken word poetry on Spotify.
If you haven’t been able to get in your need for live poetry readings, I suggest looking up some spoken word poets online and listening to some of their work. This may even help you be able to keep your sanity by hearing another human’s voice.
7. Begin each day with a new poem.
There are plenty of ways to get new poems each day, but one way I do it is through Poem-a-Day by poets.org. Each day I wake up to see a new poem in my email, letting me set my mind on the poem rather than the things that worry me. It is also a great way to get more invested into the world of poetry by reading a variety of poets.
8. Try out writing poetry for the first time.
I know that writing poetry can seem scary at times, so I want to encourage you to use this time to try something new. Poetry is flexible and is different for every author, so once you have read some other poems, hopefully you will feel inspired to write your own.
I hope this list of ideas helps you during your quarantine, as well as gives you a greater appreciation of poetry. Stay safe during this time and find new ways to celebrate National Poetry Month.