Poetry Month

This is the home stretch: the final week of National Poetry Month, one final burst of literary awareness, culminating in Alexandria's first Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day on April 30. I am hoping that we've succeeded in generating some interest in that event, and that The Athenaeum on Thursday night will be thronged with Alexandrians, waving their favorite poems and clamoring for the opportunity to share them with an audience. But, whether we have 5 or 50 or 500 participants that night, there have been some palpable results. We have started conversations. At City Hall, in restaurants, in coffeeshops, in bookstores, people have talked about poetry, and that is something they may not have done since they were in high school. People have REMEMBERED poetry, whether the poems they remembered were elementary school doggerel or Mad Magazine parodies or memorized pieces from their youth. In a small way, we have reconnected at least a part of our population with poetry.

In this busy month, I have talked to a variety of people about what I do--from 6th graders to casual acquaintances, from cocktail party conversationalists to family and friends, from neighbors to waiters and business owners. None of these have responded with the ever-so-polite "Oh" or "Really?" when I talk about stimulating interest in poetry. Almost without exception, they launch into stories or memories or favorite poems, willing to share an experience that relates to poetry. That is a measure of success that I never expected when we launched Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day. 

That's what poetry's all about, really. Communicating. Sharing the human experience in the best way we know how. We don't have to wait for Poetry Month or even a Poetry Day to celebrate it. Whether we speak or write or sing it, it's poetry. Poetry Month is just a reminder of that. Celebrate it.