April - National Poetry Month!
Depressed by politician named Drumpth?
Write a poem for National Poetry Month!
© Forrest W. Heaton 12 March 2020
These are difficult times—coronavirus spreading, climate change accelerating, health threatened, finances declining, lifestyle changing, some lamenting politics. In these times, yes, we need to focus our brains on appropriate action. But we also need to reserve a portion of our brains for diversion—thinking through new and different activities that present a challenge and perhaps result in improved mental and physical health . . . possibly even laughter! In that regard, therefore, we are going to propose a challenge you might consider. We’d love to hear from you about this idea and, if you participate, your experience.
A reader wrote to us in the past week to advise: “[Your blog posts are] a good distraction in our crazy world right now—another way poetry comes to the rescue!” Further, she advised that National Public Radio was currently featuring a poetry challenge she felt we might find of interest and that she was considering entering. She provided the link (below). We visited NPR to learn about the challenge. It was much fun. We learned some new stuff including the definition of “ekphrastic,” wrote our very first ekphrastic poems, submitted them, and are awaiting NPR’s advice that they have chosen them as among their Number 1 submissions!
When you click on the below link, the NPR website comes up. Click on the “3-Minute Listen” button. Either while listening or after, scroll through the program explanation. Hopefully you’ll decide to write a poem! Who cares if it is any good? Who, besides you, is in a position to judge its worth anyway? Consider it simply an exercise in offloading some stress, having some fun! You can either write your poem directly into the NPR provided box or prepare it ahead of time. When you’re ready to type it out and submit, in the paragraph just after the Salvador Dali picture, click on “Submit your ekphrastic poem here.”
Young Woman at a Window, Salvador Dali, 1925
When reading the program explanation, we learned the deadline for submissions is 18 March and the cap on poem length is 10 lines. Should you wish to submit, be aware of these two restrictions. Otherwise, we encourage you to write as many poems as your “Poet Spirit” wishes to create! Your March and April will be all the better for it! Happy National Poetry Month!