Poems on Healing, Women Warriors: A Solidarity Reading, and more

April 6, 2021

Poems on Healing

As many of our loved ones begin to get vaccinated against COVID-19, we reflect with poems centering healing, mourning, and survival:

“My 24 Hour Version” by Lois Red Elk
“You Tell Us What to Do” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
“To Be Continued:” by June Jordan
“a brief meditation on breath” by Yesenia Montilla
“little prayer” by Danez Smith
“Tomorrow and Tomorrow Again” by Craig Morgan Teicher
“The Healing Improvisation of Hair” by Jay Wright

Thirty Ways to Celebrate

Join us as we continue to celebrate the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Month, an occasion we launched to honor the integral role that poets and poetry have in our culture. Here are thirty ways to participate virtually this April.

Every National Poetry Month we present Dear Poet, a multimedia education project that invites young people in grades five through twelve to write letters in response to poems written and read by award-winning poets. Watch Tina Cane, 2020 Poets Laureate Fellow and the Poet Laureate of Rhode Island, read “Year of the Murder Hornet.”

BreakFree Education and Million Book Project, founded by Reginald Dwayne Betts, are calling for video recordings of poets reading their work, or work they admire, as part of a special National Poetry Month project. The videos will be shared with youth currently confined in correctional facilities as a way to build momentum around the national poetry competition called Words Unlocked. This project aims to encourage incarcerated youth to share their stories by helping to amplify their voices. Learn more here.

Join us for WOMEN WARRIORS, a solidarity marathon reading featuring a powerhouse collective of Asian American women poets. Hosted by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and organized in collaboration with Brooklyn Poet Laureate and Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow Tina Chang. Thursday, April 8 at 7 p.m. EDT. Free with RSVP.

Deadline Approaching: Order Your Free Copy of the 2021 National Poetry Month Poster by April 12

This year’s poster was designed by Bao Lu, a twelfth grader from Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York and the winner of the 2021 National Poetry Month Poster Contest. Order your free copy of the poster before the poster request line closes at 4:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 12.

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: Living Room Craft Talks

Check out our #PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: Living Room Craft Talks with Academy of American Poets Chancellor Ellen Bass, featuring Nicole Sealey. Friday, April 9 at 12 noon EDT. Tickets available for purchase here.

Coffee House Press in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is seeking a full-time Publicity & Marketing Assistant to support the communications team with book and author events, awards submissions, sales, customer service, and more.
Eastern Illinois University in Charleston is seeking a full-time Assistant Professor of English (primary focus on poetry) to begin teaching August 16, 2021.
Feminist Press in New York City is seeking an Executive Director who will be responsible for publishing program, budget, staff, and building partnerships, among other expectations.

#NationalPoetryMonth Event Spotlight of the Week

Join us for The Power of Poetry, a live conversation featuring Boston Poet Laureate & Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow Porsha Olayiwola, Chen Chen, Dara Wier, and Danielle Legros Georges. Hosted by WGBH and Mass Poetry. Monday, April 12 at 7 p.m. EDT. Tickets include access to the Zoom webinar discussion and a special digital collection of curated poems from the panel.

Jane Hirshfield on Curating Poem-a-Day

“Poem-a-Day is about expansion and discovery, surprise and reach. In a way, this month of poems was curated within the spirit of the dice and the birder’s notebook—it’s a gathering of what happened to be visible for me during the time I was filling the slots. If I were to start again now, it would include different poems, different themes, different voices.”

—Jane Hirshfield, author of Ledger (Knopf, 2020), and Poem-a-Day Guest Editor for the month of April.

Sponsored Content

“Rise Up” Poetry Contest: last call! Show us your resilience in 14 lines or less. $20.00 to enter. Visit Oprelle.com for details. Deadline: April 30, 2021.

“Masters” Poetry Contest. Cash prizes and publication for the first-, second-, and third-place winners; publication for the fourth- and fifth-place winners. Visit Oprelle.com for details. Deadline: May 18, 2021.

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

March 28: “O Sea, That Knowest Thy Strength” by Effie Lee Newsome
March 29: “How Many Lives Have We Lived in Paris?” by Cyrus Cassells
March 30: “ The Roots Do a Live Cover of Mayfield's ‘Move On Up ’” by Cynthia Dewi Oka
March 31: “La suavecita” by Lupe Mendez
April 1: “My Einsteinicity” by Lynne Thompson
April 2: “One More Love Poem” by Dunya Mikhail
April 3: “Winter to Spring” by Irvin W. Underhill

Thank you to the following 2021 #NationalPoetryMonth sponsors & partners who help make possible the largest literary celebration in the world, now in its 25th year: 826 Nationa l, ABRAMS Books, AGNI, Alaska Quarterly Review, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., American Booksellers Association, American Libraries Association, American Poetry Review, Andrews McMeel Publishing, The Betsy South Beach Hotel, BkMk Press, Blue Flower Arts, BOA Editions , Ltd., CavanKerry Press, and Center for Literary Publishing.

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Poems on Healing, Women Warriors: A Solidarity Reading, and more

Poems on Healing

Thirty Ways to Celebrate

Deadline Approaching: Order Your Free Copy of the 2021 National Poetry Month Poster by April 12

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: Living Room Craft Talks

Jane Hirshfield on Curating Poem-a-Day

Older messages

"After Graduate School" by Valencia Robin

"When Love" by Alicia Ostriker

"Winter to Spring" by Irvin W. Underhill

"One More Love Poem" by Dunya Mikhail

"My Einsteinicity" by Lynne Thompson

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