on National Poetry Month

We are now into April. The buds on the plants have blossomed; the bare trees are turning out leaves. The birds, the bees, the sun have risen into the sky. The soil, now rich with water sprouts of wild grasses is never more comfortable to lie in.

What better time to sit around and read poetry.

In 1996, the Academy of American Poets named April as National Poetry Month. Since then, multiple organizations have focused on the month as a festival of language.

In (most) every local community this month there are scores of potential meetings, readings, lectures, films, all dedicated to verse (and derivations thereof). There are also thousands of websites and Internet libraries dedicated to educating visitors about what poetry is and can be.

Some of my personal favorites include, but are not limited to … Poets.org, webdelsol.com, /tinfish/ …

At any rate, there are so many opportunities to explore poetry this month that I urge you to at least try reading one poem a day. It's not like a sit-up, or a walk through the park, but it is an occasion to feel the inspiration of a season.

In an effort to aid the cause, NorthernPros Creations and Cadillac Cicatrix are posting one poem per day with one image per day by New York City-based media don Joel Morrison during the month of April.

Look into Poetry whatever way you can. If so inspired, attempt to write a poem. If a poet, try writing one poem per day.

If you have a difficult time finding inspiration, look around you. Spring is here. Try looking at life through a leaf of grass.

Literally, I'm suggesting one book (in case you didn't see the segue coming), Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass , available everywhere books can be found.

To that we END with "Thoughts" from Whitman's epic ode to vie .

“Of public opinion,
Of a calm and cool fiat sooner or later, (how impassive! how certain
and final!)
Of the President with pale face asking secretly to himself, What will
the people say at last?
Of the frivolous Judge – of the corrupt Congressman, Governor,
Mayor – of such as these standing helpless and exposed,
Of the mumbling and screaming priest, (soon, soon deserted,)
Of the lessening year by year of venerableness, and of the dicta of
officers, statutes, pulpits, schools,
Of the rising forever taller and stronger and broader of the institutions
Of men and women, and of Self-esteem and Personality;
Of the true New World – of the Democracies resplendent en-masse,
Of the conformity of politics, armies, navies, to them,
Of the shining sun by them – of the inherent light, greater than the
rest,
Of the envelopment of all by them, and the effusion of all from them.”

- 1860 / 1881