Supporting Poets and Poetry

Every poet in America knows that April is National Poetry Month. There are numerous poem-a-day challenges available online for those who want to and are able to take on the challenge of writing a poem each and every day in April. I've confessed here before that I'm just not an everyday kind of poet. I put myself at the kitchen table several mornings a week and I do something poetry-related every day. That something else might be revising, reading, listening, submitting, working on my Poetry Newsletter or blog, catching up on P&W and The Writer's Chronicle, or perusing poetry journals.

So I'm not going to take on the big challenge because I know I can't / won't do it. However, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to acknowledge Poetry Month. My plan is to attend some local readings, participate in a weekend revision workshop led by Baron Wormser at the Barred Owl Retreat in Massachusetts, and go the extra mile to support poets and poetry by purchasing as many poetry and poetry-related books as I can without ending up in debtors' prison.

I'm off to a good start. Here's what's already on my table:

• Where the Dead Are, by Wanda Praisner 
• Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Wrigley
• Kingdom Animalia, by Aracelsis Girmay
• The Switching/Yard, by Jan Beatty
• Survivors' Picnic, by Deborah Bruce
• Charms Against Lightning, by James Arthur

On order and eagerly awaited:

• Gloryland, by Anne Marie Macari
• The World Keeps Turning to Light: A Renga by the State Poets Laureate of America, by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg 

Any suggestions for additional titles?

Here's a list of 30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month, provided by the Academy of American Poets.