Organized by the Academy of American Poets and celebrated each year since 1996, Poetry Month is designed to celebrate poetry and encourage people to read and write poetry.
Looking for ways to engage more with poetry? The Academy has a suggested list of 30 poetry-based activities at https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/30-ways-celebrate-national-poetry-month, including the opportunity to sign up for their poem-a-day email for April.
According to the National Poetry Month website, the most read contemporary poem in 2024 was “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye from her book Honeybee.
At the store, our recent favorites include Bicycles, love poems by Nikki Giovanni, who passed away late last year. Read Lori’s review of Bicycles in our online newsletter, check out our poetry section and display in store, or share your favorite with us on our social media.
And, if you’re looking for another way to experience poetry, try an audiobook. Find a great selection of poetry audiobooks at https://libro.fm/genres/poetry.
Here’s a few titles we’re reading and recommending for poetry month:
- Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem by Rachel Trousdale
- Bicycles : Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni
- A Little History of Poetry by John Carey
- How to Be a Good Girl: A Miscellany by Jamie Hood
- You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World Edited by Ada Limón (paperback)
- Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
- A Boxful of Poetry by James Crews, illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova
- How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander & Deanna Nikaido, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
- Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose by Naomi Shihab Nye