"I have prayed nightly for those I have idolized"

April 18, 2023

Arab American Heritage Month

Continue celebrating Arab American Heritage month with this selection of poems from our archive:

“You Can’t” by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat
“I Belong There” by Mahmoud Darwish
“Interrogation of an Alternate Timeline” by Hazem Fahmy
“the days is numbered” by Marwa Helal
“Breaking [News]” by Noor Hindi
“Tries the Grammar of the Arabic to Fit the Language the English” by Noor Jaber
“Tuesday” by Fady Joudah
“The War in Colors” by Dunya Mikhail
“From the Arabic” Ameen Rihani
“Migrant Earth” by Deema K. Shehabi

“But that mystery is the clarity: the experience that the poem is, cuts through the noise of the world, of our own minds, human fears and joys, our wonders and boredoms, and carries us to a moment of concentrated, distilled presence (of any affective nature—painful or otherwise), a state of being that exists outside of language, in silence, though it is language that brought us to it.”

Read our latest enjambments interview with Charif Shanahan on his collection Trace Evidence: Poems (Tin House, 2023). Read a selection of poems from the collection on Poets.org:

“Trace Evidence”
“While I Wash My Face I Ask Impossible Questions of Myself and Those Who Love Me”
“Thirty-Seventh Year”
“Indeterminacy”

more at poets.org

“When it is inclusive and compassionate, we can all begin to speak to each other with empathy, and the capacity for empathy is one of the best gifts poetry provides to all who hear and read it.”

Read an interview with Lynne Thompson, 2022 Poet Laureate Fellow, on her project in Los Angeles libraries. Read more about Thompson, including poems, on Poets.org:

“My Einsteinicity”
“When Nothing Else Will Do”
“Langston Won’t Stay In His Grave”

more at poets.org

We are more than halfway through the twenty-seventh annual #NationalPoetryMonth, an occasion established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 to celebrate the integral role that poets and poetry have in our culture. Visit Poets.org/npm for free activities, programs, and resources to celebrate with us throughout April and beyond!

more at poets.org

This month’s Poem-a-Day is curated by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, author of several books, including The Hurting Kind (Milkweed Editions, 2022) and Bright Dead Things (Milkweed Editions, 2015), finalist for the National Book Award. Read and listen to a Q&A with Limón about her Poem-a-Day curatorial approach, and read poems by on Poets.org.

more at poets.org

Poetry & the Creative Mind, our signature National Poetry Month celebration and benefit reading, will return to the virtual stage as a free, livestreamed event on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

With readings of favorite poems by luminaries from across the arts and culture, the broadcast celebrates the important role poetry plays in the lives of readers. Join Ethan Hawke, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, Shantell Martin, Liam Neeson, Molly Shannon, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai, John Lithgow, and more, for this singular virtual event hosted by Masters of Ceremony Richard Blanco and Kimiko Hahn.

learn more & register free

Registration is free for all attendees. Your gift during registration supports the Academy of American Poets’ programs and publications, including free resources for educators during National Poetry Month and throughout the year.

Watch Brian Blanchfield read his poem “Edge of Water, Moiese, Montana.” This is the twelfth film in Above Strands of Earth: Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation at Tippet Rise, a film series produced in collaboration with Tippet Rise Art Center and the Academy of American Poets. Directed by Matthew Thompson and shot at Tippet Rise Art Center. Learn more at https://www.brinkerhoffpoetry.org.

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week

A reading and conversation with Eileen Myles and Nate Lippens presented by Poetry Coalition member Woodland Pattern Book Center. April 22 at 7 p.m at Woodland Pattern (720 East Locust Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212) and live-streamed via Crowdcast. Register for free.

more at poets.org

The request line for the official National Poetry Month poster, distributed to more than 85,000 schools, libraries, organizations, and individuals nationwide, closes at the end of the day today, April 18. If you haven't done so already, take advantage of this final opportunity to order your free copy of the poster!

The 2023 poster was designed by Marc Brown, creator of the popular Arthur series. The artwork incorporates an excerpted line from the poem “The Carrying” by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.

more at poets.org

University of Mississippi is seeking a full-time instructor of English.
Milkweed Editions in Minneapolis is seeking a full-time senior publicist. Apply by May 8, 2023.

Revisit last week’s Poem-a-Day selections with us on Poets.org:

April 9: from “The Ode of Ímr el Káis” by Imruʾ al-Qais
April 10: “Prayer of the Shy Forest” by Jennifer L. Knox
April 11: “Taurus Sun, Cancer Moon, Scorpio Rising” by Paul Tran
April 12: “yes the business folk” by Jose Olivarez
April 13: “After the Reading” by Tiana Clark
April 14: “Folk Song” by Diane Seuss
April 15: “[When you told us our glances, soft, timid, and mild,]” by Wallada bint al-Mustakfi