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.

“Yellow” by Katelyn Vause

The color of my childhood was yellow.

Pine pollen pooled like spilled paint in puddles,

sprinkled across windshields and wide lawns.

The heat of the southern sun warmed my skin,

clumsily clasped grasshopper legs cut

my fingertips between trips to

the oak tree, where a number two pencil

tracked my misadventures.

I scattered corn for chickens and accidentally

cracked their eggs on concrete blocks by

the wheat field, creating a second sunrise.

My grandparents’ canary home was copied

by my best friend’s parents, two bright beacons

on a road lined with honeysuckle.

When I left, I pocketed paint chips and pencils,

pills for the unknown allergens, and a presence

immaterial

and warm.