A Common Recreation

Not the name of the next horror film at Vincom, Do I dare disturb the universe is the headline for this years National Poetry Month (and of course the lines from T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” WOW! A whole month devoted to poetry. But what on earth could you do for whole month to celebrate poetry? Well the good folks from poets.org have a WHOLE MONTHS worth of suggestions to keep you going!

What better way to celebrate National Poetry Month than to write poetry. A few years ago, a few folks got together and set themselves a challenge to write 1 new poem everyday for the month of April. It didn’t take long for the fun to spread around the world and NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) was born. We are already a couple of days into April but it’s never too late to start! Add your poems to your blog or keep a notebook.  Remember, this kind of activity is about quantity not quality – just let the words fly!

If NaPoWriMo sounds a little bit too much for you, poets.org recommends 30 different activities to enjoy National Poetry Month. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Put some poetry in an unexpected place – why not leave a poem somewhere unlikely to brighten someones day. Pin it to a noticeboard. Email it to a friend or leave it in a locker. 
2. Get out the sidewalk chalk and commit a poem to pavement – just like the title says, find a poem you like and share it with the community. Don’t forget to check with the owner of the pavement first!
3. Poem-a-day – if writing a poem a day for NaPoWriMo sounds a little tough, why not try reading a poem a day. Sign up and have a poem delivered to you inbox everyday! Nice.
4. Celebrate poem in your pocket day – Thursday April 30 2009 is Poem in your pocket day and this means people from all over will be carrying their favourite poem of the month (or ever!) in their pocket and sharing it with their peers. 
5. Start a commonplace book – as the proverb goes, “great wits have short memories”. Why not save your memory all the trouble by copying down and collecting some of your favourite poems.

National Poetry Month is held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets celebrate poetry.

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National Poetry Month Poster 2009

Those of you who enjoyed our podcast Daily Language Activity (DLA) today and are looking for more info – this post is about where you can find it.

Grammar Girl, a.k.a. Mignon Fogarty, writes at QuickandDirty.com. She also has a podcast, downloadable from the website or using iTunes. And, as if that’s not enough, you can follow her on Twitter, or buy her book on Amazon! I’m happy to see she has such an online presence!

Here is the direct link — including references — to the episode we listened to today, which focused on word choice: What To Call People With Disabilities. (Note: this episode was actually written by Bonnie Trenga, author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier. She blogs at The Sentence Sleuth.)

Happy Writing!

Image: Define Sentence by Trevor Coultart