National Poetry Month

Inspired by Black History month, The Academy of American Poets  worked with a variety of interested parties including teachers, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and of course poets to figure out the many ways poetry could be celebrated.  They concluded April was a great month for the celebration, and on April 1, 1996, President Bill Clinton proclaimed April to be National Poetry Month. 

 

Following the Academy’s lead, Writers’ Morning Out has posted a poem-a-day during April since WMO’s inception in 2010.

“Reasons” by DeLois Goode

I write to laugh, I write to cry

I write to make sense of all that has happened and to quiet the “whys”

I write to deal with the future, I write to deal with the past

I write to deal with the present and deal with the feelings I had last

I write to forget, I write to face some regrets

I write to find strength to face the “what the hell do I do next”

I write so that my broken heart can trust again in a being that I can’t see

I write to accept a destiny that wasn’t a part of my dreams

I write to find strength to continue this journey called life

I write to find the answers to all the wrongs because I’m justified in my rights

I write for clarity and to deal with the hurts that I can’t change

I write for a fragile heart cause by others pain for which I’m still partly the blame

I write to go beyond the limitations place on me by the powers-that-be

I write to feel the free that only ink seems to give to me

I write to silence the lies, I write to embrace the truth

I write to regain my faith the way I first believed in the days of my youth

I write to find a bottom to these endless tears

I write to deal with the anger I have suppress down through the years

I write to release, I write to find peace

I write to find relief maybe then my mind will let my body sleep

I write for directions and maybe then I will know where I am going

I write so that I won’t become bitter under the Lord’s molding and forging

I write to heal from life’s new incisions

I write for freedom from depression’s faithful prison

I write to learn the lesson in another of life’s session

I write to past the testing and so I may receive the ultimate blessing

I write to find words to express how I feel through life’s ordeal

I write to reveal what the heart conceals

I write to give life to experiences, to ease the pain and to give love a voice

I write because it’s who I am, it’s not an option, nor is it a choice