April is National Poetry Month!

Happy April everyone! Not only is it one of my favorite months because spring is showing up almost everyday, but also because April is designated as National Poetry Month! When I was 8 years old, I searched out hefty volumes of poetry at the library. I would then sit at my desk copying poems into a notebook of multi-colored paper. I loved the way the words looked on the page. How they sounded to my ear. I knew the authors were speaking of birth and death. Of life and laughter. Long before I could articulate their meaning, I knew poems were important.

I maintained this practice of writing favorite poems into my notebooks and journals. By my teens, I was obsessed with Wallace Stevens and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Dylan Thomas and Emily Dickinson. In my early twenties, I began seeking out more women poets: Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, Alma Luz Villanueva, Alice Walker. Friends handed me Mary Oliver. Pablo Neruda entered my life. Rumi danced into the room.

Alongside these incredible voices, I began writing my own poems. These writers taught me that the most ordinary details of my life contained beauty and mystery. That sometimes the only way I could make sense of a moment was to create a poem from the tiniest pieces. Even my broken pancreas contained the possibility of healing when viewed with a poet's eye.

 And, since I am so head over heels in love with poetry, I've decided to devote my blog this month to sharing with you some of my favorite medicine. Look for poems, poets, book reviews, movie suggestions, and even some giveaways!