Another post for National Poetry Month:
"The advantage of poetry over life
is that poetry, if it is sharp enough,
may last."
-- Louise Glück
#poetry #nationalpoetrymonth #npm2026 #quotes #quotesoftheday #poetrylovers #LouiseGlück #poem
Cassandra bitterly dismissing the gift of prophecy as a trick in this masterful poem of compressed characterization by Louise Bogan. It tears through her like a song she writes—and so I do so, with my rough-hewn voice at the Parlando Project. #PoetryAloud #NPM2026
frankhudson.org/2026/04/20/c...
Celebrate National Poetry Month 1 A product can be authentic; an object cannot. This presents a problem. An identity can be authentic; an experience cannot. “How was your sleep experience?” asks Marriott. Praise or blame is the only legitimate response. 2 Vultures wheel over Miami. A sign that appears day after day is not a sign. The library boasts a fine collection of books written in private languages. 3 Identity is made of select experiences. 4 If you are genuinely sick, the leaves recede and the flickering holes between them come forward— not angels, but unnamed objects - "Vultures" by Rae Armantrout, American poet, (1947 - ), from Finalists (images: New City Library logo; background photo of "A flock of vultures flying through a blue sky" courtesy of Rusty Watson on Unsplash)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth and #NationalLibraryWeek!
Here's Rae Armantrout's "Vultures" from her collection FINALISTS.
Check out more from this collection on @hoopladigital.bsky.social with your library card:
buff.ly/zfuBW0Y
#NPM2026
I awoke early this morning to the white magic of April snowfall in Minnesota & to delight in the tale of Yeats casting out Crowley by invoking the spell of bad debts to the landlord.
I’ll leave it to you to wonder if poetry needs more wizard battles during this #NPM2026 #NationalPoetryMonth
Celebrate National Poetry Month Charlie "Bird" Parker Once ugly duckling, rich plumage grew. Poised, Bird flew. Flocks followed. Me too. Chet Baker Songbird, lost, bright lights His guide afar, JAZZ his fate, Icarus his star. Four-Letter Word Four-letter word JAZZ: naughty, sexy, cerebral, but solarplexy. - 3 jazz haiku by James A. Emanuel, American expat poet, 1921-2013 from his out-of-print collection, Jazz From the Haiku King trans. from the French by Jean Migrenne (images: New City Library logo; background photo of "silhouette of a man playing a saxophone" courtesy of Gracious Adebayo on Unsplash)
For #HaikuDay, here are 3 jazz haiku from the underappreciated American expat poet James A. Emanuel.
Find more of his work at the library in the collection _This Is Not a Small Voice: Poems by Black Poets_ by Traci N. Todd, ed., or online at buff.ly/B0UJWRT .
#NPM2026
November - Amy Lowell The vine leaves against the brick walls of my house, Are rusty and broken. Dead leaves gather under the pine-trees, The brittle boughs of lilac-bushes Sweep against the stars. And I sit under a lamp Trying to write down the emptiness of my heart. Even the cat will not stay with me, But prefers the rain Under the meagre shelter of a cellar window.
#NationalPoetryMonth #NPM2026 #poetry #music #PoemsAloud Here’s one on the longing side, and a musical performance of it: frankhudson.org/2019/11/08/a...
And not this time the body of my child, but my own skin, loving the wrinkled knees and the scars dealt the child I was, loving the skin between toes, how soft, verily soft, like the tenderness behind the knees. How could I have so disliked this body in my life, the one water so laves in the small tub of my own storm’s tides. Just like the other women I know, the girls, so interrupted by our own proportions to the world of ought. I look at the picture of my grandmother; never was there a lapse of my love for the fit of her flesh upon her sweetness, about her kindness." excerpt from "Bathing with Tender Care" by Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan (1947- ) in A History of Kindness (images: New City Library logo; background photo of dry skin on palms by Alexander Grey, courtesy of Unsplash, overlaid with water drops on body of water by A.C., courtesy of Unsplash)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth!
Here's an excerpt from Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan's "Bathing with Tender Care" from her 2020 collection A HISTORY OF KINDNESS.
Check out the full collection from the library or on @hoopladigital with your library card:
buff.ly/ogLk75f
#NPM2026
In light of April being poetry month: “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” ― William Wordsworth
#poetry #nationalpoetrymonth #npm2026
#PoetryAloud #NationalPoetryMonth #NPM2026
This poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar performed with original music as part of the long-running Parlando Project: parlando.libsyn.com/sympathy-i-k...
Celebrate National Poetry Month Lago ... Entre montañas áridas las aguas prisioneras reposan, centellean, como un cielo caído. Una mitad violeta, otra de plata, escama, resplandor indolente, soñoliento entre nácares. Nada sino los montes y la luz entre brumas; agua y cielo reposan, pecho a pecho, infinitos. ... Lake ... Between arid mountains the imprisoned waters rest, sparkle, like a fallen sky. One half violet, the other silver, a fish-scale, a lazy glittering, drowsing in mother-of-pearl. Nothing but mountains and the light in the mist; water and sky rest, breast to breast, infinite. ... - Octavio Paz, Mexican poet (1914-1998) excerpt from "Lake," transl. Rachel Benson from Twentieth-century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, ed. by Stephen Tapscott (images: New City Library logo; background photo of "arid landscape with mountains and a lake under cloudy sky" courtesy of Maximilian Brand on Unsplash)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth!
Here's Nobel Prize-winning Mexican poet Octavio Paz's poem, "Lago" ("Lake"), from _Twentieth-century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology_, ed. by Stephen Tapscott.
Check out this anthology and many others like it for FREE with your library card!
#NPM2026
#NPM2026 #PoemsAloud
I encroach into the realm of art song with this musical performance of two 20th century male poets reactions to Emily Dickinson—but it’s also an exploration of the mutability of The Poetry Canon. frankhudson.org/2026/04/12/f...
Celebrate National Poetry Month My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined. So close you look past me when wondering where I am. It’s OK. I know that to be human is to be farsighted. But feel me now, walking the chambers of your heart, pressing my palms to the soft walls of your living. Why did no one tell us that to die is to be reincarnated in those we love while they are still alive? ... - Andrea Gibson, American spoken-word poet (1975-2025) excerpt from "Love Letter from the Afterlife" in their final collection, You Better Be Lightning (images: New City Library logo; background photo of a pink lotus flower in bloom, courtesy of Aarn Giri on Unsplash)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth!
Here's an excerpt from spoken-word poet Andrea Gibson's "Love Letter from the Afterlife," from their award-winning collection YOU BETTER BE LIGHTNING.
This was the last poem they wrote.
You can read (& hear) more of their work on hoopla:
buff.ly/OMs1NTW
#NPM2026
What’s humors’ proper weight in poetry? How well does light verse age? Can comedy gain new meaning in context? I’m just smart enough to ask I guess, answers pending.
The April Parlando Project #NPM2026 #PoemsAloud series continues with an LYL Band performance. frankhudson.org/2026/04/09/a...
![1
Bright orange in the morning
cupping the fragrant air
of the upstate summer.
All my aunt remembered of Armenia.
In the hot sun,
I look them dead center--
orange paper streaked black;
pollen gets in my nose.
When I look into the pit,
the base of the pistil's missing.
2
When the buttery light of the moon
falls on them,
I see into their eyes.
Men and women who bore my name
have gone from face to bone
with the quickness that night
has made the poppies
into nothing.
3
Not only for Armenia
do these poppies give up their petals.
4
Off long stems black eyes sway
in the morning wind.
The anther sacs are busted--
filaments rise past my window.
- Peter Balakian, Armenian-American poet (1951 – )
"Poppies" from June-Tree: New and Selected Poems [1974-2000]
(images: New City Library logo; background photo: A sea of wild poppies on the track between Stepanakert and Alaverdi in Armenia by Alexandr Hovhannisyan, courtesy of Unsplash)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fb76l5z2gla6f6cjcqxxcrun/bafkreiamj3ronspm643kcnnakrfsug4xjbwod6ffcspyx4dbq5zi4l3vbq)
1 Bright orange in the morning cupping the fragrant air of the upstate summer. All my aunt remembered of Armenia. In the hot sun, I look them dead center-- orange paper streaked black; pollen gets in my nose. When I look into the pit, the base of the pistil's missing. 2 When the buttery light of the moon falls on them, I see into their eyes. Men and women who bore my name have gone from face to bone with the quickness that night has made the poppies into nothing. 3 Not only for Armenia do these poppies give up their petals. 4 Off long stems black eyes sway in the morning wind. The anther sacs are busted-- filaments rise past my window. - Peter Balakian, Armenian-American poet (1951 – ) "Poppies" from June-Tree: New and Selected Poems [1974-2000] (images: New City Library logo; background photo: A sea of wild poppies on the track between Stepanakert and Alaverdi in Armenia by Alexandr Hovhannisyan, courtesy of Unsplash)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth!
Here's Pulitzer Prize-winning, Armenian-American poet Peter Balakian's poem, "Poppies."
Read more from his collection JUNE-TREE: NEW & SELECTED POEMS on @hoopladigital.bsky.social with your library card:
buff.ly/0HfH5PT
#NPM2026
Celebrate National Poetry Month ...Squid know how to be rich when you have ten empty arms. Can you believe there are humans who don’t value the feel of a good bite and embrace at least once a day? Underneath you, narwhals spin upside down while their singular tooth needles you like a compass pointed towards home. If you dive deep enough where imperial volutes and hatchetfish swim, you will find all the colors humans have not yet named, and wide caves of black coral and clamshell. A giant squid finally let itself be captured in a photograph, and the paper nautilus ripple-flashes scarlet and two kinds of violet when it silvers you near. Who knows what will happen next?... - Aimee Nezhukumatathil, American poet (1974- ), from "Invitation" in her collection Oceanic (images: New City Library logo; background photo of a blue jellyfish with glowing tentacles in dark water by Tyler Mower, courtesy of Unsplash)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth!
Here's a snippet from Aimee Nezhukumatathil's "Invitation."
Dive into her collection OCEANIC on @hoopladigital:
www.hoopladigital.com/ebook/oceani...
#NPM2026
#NPM2026 #PoemsAloud I’m hoping for a busy April National Poetry Month presenting some other poets’ poems combined with a variety of music I record.
This lakeside Spring nature poem by George Dillon is the first in the series: parlando.libsyn.com/memory-of-la...
background is a map of land and water in dark greens and beiges there a compass rosette in the upper left, and a QR code in the upper right text at bottom - National Poetry Month, Le Mois National de La Poesie,
April is National Poetry Month!
Land & Sea, La Terre et La Merre
Drop by your local library, and explore the world of poetry...
for more information, please visit: poets.ca/offerings/pr...
www.poets.ca
#NPM2026 #TheLeagueofCanadianPoets
"Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry."
- Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1)
#NationalPoetryMonth
#NPM2026
#PoetryMonth
#CelebratePoetry
#PoetryEveryday
#bluesky
Manitoba poets! The deadline for Writes of Spring is Monday, March 30, which is also my 53rd birthday. So: won't you PLEASE gift me with me with some land and sea-themed poems?
#nationalpoetrymonth #NPM #NPM2026
We have lots of events coming up including a NPM celebration featuring Poet Laureate @janetkvammen.bsky.social with Marlo Browne and Barbara Kmiec on Saturday April 11, 2pm at NWPL.
#NPM2026 #NationalPoetryMonth #openmic
www.nwpl.ca/events/a-cel...
