Those of you who have followed my blog for a while now already know that April is one of my favorite months: National Poetry Month!  Don’t you love this year’s poster (above)? It reminds me of hanging poems from the tree by the campfire at Highlights. If you’re new to my blog, then let me explain an annual tradition I started and muse on its benefits.

I love poetry.  Not all poems, surely, but poetry is like art.  Everyone has a different taste.  What I like, might not be what you would like.  For instance, I abhor most modern art (though not all).  Like why is a banana duct taped to a wall considered art?  Most of us don’t get it.  Most of us shake our head at the elitism of it all.  Why in the world would anyone pay $120,000 for something that you could buy for $1 at any grocery store or would spoil?  First world problems?

Poetry can be like that sometimes.  I won’t lie.  Sometimes modern poetry makes no sense to me and it leaves me shaking my head.  SO why celebrate it during April?  Because I want to show that not all poetry is bad.  I explained this a bit last year.  I teach poetry to kids as young as five and I don’t want them scarred for life.

Poetry is playing with words.  That’s the simplest definition I can give.  And when is play a bad thing?  So during the month of April I will be sharing a poem from a different picture book every day.  I adore picture books and poetry picture books are TWO of my passions.  I only ask one thing of you in return, dear readers.  Okay, maybe two.

If you enjoy my posts, comment and let me know.  But more importantly, I ask you to support all the poets and book editors I post about.  These are small niche books and can be easily overlooked.  Check them out or request them from the library.  Buy them.  Review them on amazon, Goodreads, etc.  Share them.  Gift them.  Any way you can support the poets I will be sharing this next month would be greatly appreciated.

And WHY am I posting these now?  Because, despite the crazy going on in the world, there needs to be some form of normalcy.  We all need something to fill our withered souls and I can promise you that poetry will do just that.  I never cease to be amazed at how a good poem can make me feel as if a breath of fresh air has just filled my lungs.  I hope you will feel the same way next month.

Keep in mind, these won’t be my only posts in April.  I will still have Simply 7 interviews too.  If you don’t want to read the poetry ones, ignore anything with NPM (aka National Poetry Month) in the title. Thank you for continuing to read my blog!  <3