Throw some confetti and blow a shofar...it's National Poetry Month! Love this time of year, when all things are becoming new again, when the doldrums of winter are washed away by April showers, and when poetry is in the air.
Far too many of us weren't raised on a steady diet of poetry, except maybe in the form of popular music. But that isn't usually very good poetry. Some of us have been introduced to poetry by an artsy parent, a literature teacher in High School, or maybe we discovered it much on our own. Regardless, poetry is a powerful and beautiful thing to discover and something we should continue to rediscover for the rest of our lives.
Over the next month I'm going to post poems, info on poets, poetry websites, thoughts on writing poetry, and more. Whether you are a poetry lover or not, this month is for you. Let's begin by watching a video from a prominent U.S. poet, Dana Gioia as he gives a commencement speech at Stanford last spring. He speaks of the loss of recognition of art and artists in our culture...