National What Month?!?

Nope, no April Fool's Day joke here (well, at least, it's not meant to be), instead...

Today marks the beginning of a month-long celebration of poetry, poets, and all things poetic.  Aptly named "National Poetry Month," it was inaugurated a mere twelve years ago in the United States by the Academy of American Poets as a yearly tribute to poetry.  This annual rite was created to "increase the attention paid (by individuals and the media) to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our poetic heritage, and to poetry books and magazines... [and] to achieve an increase in the visibility, presence, and accessibility of poetry in our culture."  The Academy of American Poets web site has more information about National Poetry Month including this FAQ.

To add one small voice to the national celebration, during this month I'll share some recent (or maybe not so recent) poems I have come across which I have enjoyed -- proof that even a computer scientist/meteorologist can occasionally discover a right side to the brain.

To begin the month, here is a poem in sonnet form entitled "April in Town" -- apropos as it is April (of course!)  It is by the 19th-century American poet, Lizette Woodworth Reese.  Reese was a contemporary of Emily Dickinson.  Although she never gained the same level of attention and critical acclaim as Dickinson, still, during her lifetime, she was a popular artist of traditional poetic forms.  The majority of her poetry presented bucolic or nostalgic themes, often favored in the post-Victorian era.

From:
A Handful of Lavender
by Lizette Woodworth Reese
Boston and New York
Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
1891, p. 85