As the month of April draws to a close, so does National Poetry Month. Celebrated annually in April since 1996, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the occasion. Poets spend the month sharing their work and expanding appreciation for the art across the globe.
“For me, every month is National Poetry Month.” says English professor David Wright. “But in April, one of the things that a lot of poets do is they try to write or post a poem a day as a way of promoting poetry, so I try to write a poem a day every April.”
When asked where one could find these poems, Professor Wright said: “I’m hiding them. I’ll let them go into the world when they’re ready, okay?”
Junior English major Abby Zayas has always been fond of poetry and came to appreciate the art through the classes she’s taken. “I’ve always known that I wanted to write. That was the career path that I was striving towards.” said Zayas. “I think it’s a collaborative art form that can reveal a lot about yourself, more than you expect it to.”
Zayas’s favorite poem of hers was one she wrote for a class she had with Professor Wright. Wright had tasked the class with writing a poem that acted as a letter to an abstract concept, and Zayas wrote to grief, a poem she says helped her come to terms with the loss of a family member.
“I think it was just a perfect storm,” said Zayas. “We have been doing all this practice with form and this letter type of poem in class already. Then, there was this personal high energy, and the two of those mixed together creating something I was very proud of.”
For aspiring poets and people who just write poetry for fun, Zayas offers the following advice: “Just sit down and do it” and “get out of your own head.”
“I started finding that I wrote some of the best poetry that, I feel that I’ve done, has been not based on an extreme emotion, a moment of high stress, or high excitement. Whatever it happens to be.” said Zayas.
The month concludes on April 30th with “Poem In Your Pocket Day,” where poets write original poems, keep them in their pockets, and read them aloud to anybody throughout the day.