OK, so we're already a week in, but I kept forgetting to post a thread about this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, it's Poetry Month! As artificial as any such celebration, to be sure, but April is as good a time as any to focus on poetry. Has anyone here been doing anything special for the month? I've been focusing on revising some old poems that I've had sitting around for a very long time (some that I haven't even looked at in several years) so that I can start submitting them (got to get those 100 rejections somehow, lol). A friend of mine who isn't a poet is reading a poem every day. How about you?
All you really have to do to honour the month is write one poem. Do that and you’re good. It doesn’t even have to be a really good poem. How about re-read your favourite poem? I’ll post one of mine here. In honour of Rudyard Kipling.
Ah, one of the classics. And I had never noticed this before, but it takes an impressive amount of chutzpah to not only rhyme "you" with "you", but to do it at the opening of the poem and throw another "you" in between!
This month, my friend and I have been working on a pro-life chapbook for a pregnancy center where she’s helped out—I write, she edits based on her knowledge of the intended audience. Regarding “If,” the first rhyme isn’t “you/you,” but “about you/doubt you.” The rhyme starts on the last stressed syllable. When that isn’t the last syllable, it’s called a “falling rhyme” or “feminine rhyme” (the latter name is after its counterpart in French), as opposed to a “rising rhyme” or “masculine rhyme” (“you/too”) Alternating masculine and feminine rhymes is a requirement in classical French poetry, and some poems in English, such as “If,” do this as well. I like to do this with some of my poems—some of them strongly show a French influence, which I guess makes sense because one of my major influences is a French poet/singer (Georges Brassens, the man shown in my avatar).
I really got to get to doing this. I honestly just write and edit and never submit anything, except for a chapbook into a contest that didn't win. You start submitting yet? I'm honestly at a loss as to where and what I really need to do.
If you’re at college you can join a group. If you’re not you can join the nearest one available. Sometimes online ones being hosted on zoom and pick up advice from other poetry enthusiasts and experts. Edit: I know it’s no longer poetry month but in some ways poetry is relevant all year round.
April's here, the time of year When poets' words fill hearts with cheer I dust off poems tucked away And contemplate what poets say Each line and verse, a gift dispersed To open minds and spirits nursed On rhythms rolling, images bold And truths revealed, both new and old So let us lift our voices high And let our inspiration fly Share poems that stir, delight and teach Use words that hope and heal can reach For poetry has power to change To challenge norms, make justice ring So poets rise, take pen in hand Spread truth and beauty cross this land!
Yo, it's never too late to celebrate the art Of rhythmic words that speak straight to the heart Revising old poems, that's tight, get them right Polish each verse till they're gleaming bright Reading a poem a day - that's a dope way To soak in the magic of poets' sway As for me, I've been writing some new Trying different forms like a pantoum The villanelle's refrain has me entrained With its patterns repeating, I'm not complaining Blank verse and free verse, I continue to rehearse Hoping I can uncover some deeper verse See, poetry lets me express and process With language that's rich, symbolic and timeless So keep on creating, revising and reading Let April remind us, poetry's always needed To nourish the soul, inspire and console in ways prose just can't reach - now ain't that the truth?