National Poetry Month arrives, does not rhyme
by Brandon CaplanEarlham’s celebration of National Poetry Month will culminate in a poetry festival to take place tomorrow, April 19, from 12 p.m to 3 p.m. The events of this year’s Poetry Month were organized by the recently formed Richmond Community Poetry Effort (RCPE). The RCPE evolved out of a semester-long study of the current role of poetry in American society done by creative writing professor David Ebenbach and his Ford-Knight class.
Ebenbach, along with his five students seniors Carrie Black, Gabriel Kalmuss-Katz, Katie Jones and Jess Waggoner and junior Caitlin Flannery pondered the “concern with the rate of poetry readership in America…why is it small? Everything we do is to find new and exciting ways to get people and poetry together.” In the effort of bringing people and poetry together, the group has undertaken the organization of Richmond’s celebration of poets and poetry institutions within Richmond.
In April 1996, the Academy of American Poets inaugurated National Poetry Month to bring together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. The intention was to increase the attention given by both individuals and the media to the art of poetry and our poetic heritage.
“In the end, we hoped to achieve an increase in the visibility, presence, and accessibility of poetry in our culture” stated the Academy of American Poets. Over the past decade, through the efforts of organizers around the country, the National Poetry Month has grown to become the largest literary celebration in the world.
Why April? The academy chose a month during the school year so that schools and students would be able to participate. They also wanted to piggyback off of the work laid out by Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March. The Academy quotes T.S. Elliot and says, “April is the cruelest month…it is our hope that National Poetry Month lessens that effect.”
Ebenbach said, “April in Richmond will be a month when poetry contributes to people’s daily lives, whether they are already poetry lovers or folks who never touch the stuff-yet-and also a month of connections among the many diverse people who call Richmond home.” As some of you may have noticed already, the group has spread blank journals throughout Richmond with the words “this is for you” on the outside so that passersby may write in it and pass it around. The group has also placed walls of paper around town and Earlham in order that people can collaborate on a larger written work.
The poetry festival takes place at the Uptown Innovation Center. The center is located at 814 East Main Street, and there will be shuttles at the Runyan circle to take people from Earlham to the event every half-hour.
Referring to these activities, Kalmuss-Katz commented, “I don’t think the problem today is that most people hate poetry, but that it isn’t available to them. We hope through these various activities to remind people of what a joy a good poem can be.”
At the Poetry Festival there will be scheduled poetry readings given by local poets as well as an open mic session wherein all are welcome to read a piece they wish to share. Throughout the center, there will be writing prompts with nice, handcrafted paper to write on. There will also be journals for anyone to decorate, paint, write in and take home for free. A station will be set up for spontaneous poetry, where people can provide their own prompts to local poets who look forward to the opportunity to create personalized poems for participants. Finally, there will be free books of poetry provided by Dover publishers. All of this is done not only in the hopes of bringing the joy of poetry to a wider audience but also to encourage the poet within all of us to escape the confines of our insecurities and freely express.
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