About National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month. The creation of a National Poetry Month was inspired by the success of Black History Month (February) and Women's History Month (March). In 1995, the Academy of American Poets assembled a group of literary organizations, poets, teachers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians to explore the importance of establishing a month dedicated to the celebration and cultivation of poetry and literacy.
The first National Poetry Month took place in April, 1995 and since then it has been celebrated annually.
Explore Kentucky Poetry
Resources
Lexington Poetry Month series, various authors
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Her Limestone Bones: Selections from Lexington Poetry Month 2013
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ISBN: 9781936628247Publication Date: 2014-04-15Poems; 122 pages. -
This Wretched Vessel: Selections from Lexington Poetry Month 2014
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ISBN: 9781936628353Publication Date: 2015-05-15Poems; 162 pages. -
The Messenger Is Sudden Thunder: Selections from Lexington Poetry Month 2016
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ISBN: 9780985348977Publication Date: 2017-07-01Poems, 177 pages. -
The Heavy Lifting: Selections from Lexington Poetry Month 2017
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ISBN: 9781948775007Publication Date: 2018-05-01Poems; 181 pages. -
Let's Do It Live: Selections from Lexington Poetry Month 2018
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ISBN: 9781948775045Publication Date: 2019-05-15Poems; 221 pages. -
If Only They Were Hungrier They Would Swallow Me Whole
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ISBN: 9781948775083Publication Date: 2020-05-01Poems; 269 pages.
Publications about Kentucky Poets
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Looking for Native Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry
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Fred Chappell, Jeff Daniel Marion, Jim Wayne Miller, and Robert Morgan are primarily folk artists who write poetry about people doing common, everyday tasks. Each poet in his own unique style illustrates a strong sense of place and community. All natives to the Appalachian region, these poets come from an agrarian community that they had to leave behind to enter the world of academia. Looking For Native Ground was published in 1989 comparing Chappell, Marion, Miller, and Morgan because of their place at the forefront of the regional literary movement in the 1980s.
ISBN: 9781469638461Publication Date: 1989-01-01 -
Blades o' Bluegrass: Choice Selections of Kentucky Poetry, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Authors
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Free digital copy available on Explore UK. "This volume is offered as a miniature representation of Kentucky verse for the one hundred years that is has been a state. The whole field of poetry has been traversed from the pioneer days to the present time, and en effort made to have every known poet of merit represented. Besides selections made from published books, there are also many fugitive verses that never went beyond the "Poet's Corner" in a newspaper, while some are here in print for the first time." -- Preface.
Publication Date: 1892 -
What Comes Down to Us: 25 Contemporary Kentucky Poets
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What Comes Down To Us features twenty-five of Kentucky's most accomplished contemporary poets. Together they serve to illustrate the diversity and richness of poetry being written today in the Commonwealth. The poems were collected by Jeff Worley, a poet who has lived in Kentucky for more than two decades. Although the subject matter of the poems transcends the state's borders, the collection communicates a strong sense of Kentucky as a place. Worley's introduction places contemporary Kentucky poetry in the context of the state's rich literary tradition, and the poet biographies include their reflections and, often, their poetic approach and technique.
Publication Date: 2009 -
Five Kentucky Poets Laureate
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In 2008, the Kentucky Arts Council published Five Kentucky Poets Laureate: An Anthology, a collection of poetry and prose by the commonwealth's poets laureate. The anthology includes the writings of Richard Taylor (Kentucky Poet Laureate 1999-2000), James Baker Hall (2001-2002), Joe Survant (2003-2004), Sena Jeter Naslund (2005-2006), and Jane Gentry (2007-2008), and was edited by Jane Gentry and Frederick Smock with a cover illustration by photographer Geoff Carr.
Publication Date: 2008 -
Poets Laureate of Kentucky
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A history of Kentucky's poets laureate since 1926. Contains works by J.T. Cotton Noe, Edward Gay Hill, Louise Scott Phillips, Edwin Carlisle Litsey, Jesse Hilton Stuart, Lowell Allen Williams, Lillian D. Chaffin, Senator Tom Mobley, Agnes Todd Saffell O'Rear, Clarence "Soc" Henry Clay, Lee Pennington, Paul Salyers, Dale Faughn, Jim Wayne Miller, Henry E. Pilkenton, James H. Patton, James Still, Joy Bale Boone, Richard Lawrence Taylor, James Baker Hall and Joe Survant.
Publication Date: 2004 -
Looking for Native Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry
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Fred Chappell, Jeff Daniel Marion, Jim Wayne Miller, and Robert Morgan are primarily folk artists who write poetry about people doing common, everyday tasks. Each poet in his own unique style illustrates a strong sense of place and community. All natives to the Appalachian region, these poets come from an agrarian community that they had to leave behind to enter the world of academia. Looking For Native Ground was published in 1989 comparing Chappell, Marion, Miller, and Morgan because of their place at the forefront of the regional literary movement in the 1980s.
ISBN: 9781469638461Publication Date: 1989-01-01
Each year, the Academy of American Poets releases an official National Poetry Month poster. The April 2021 poster features artwork by Bao Lu from Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York. Their design includes a line from current United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's poem "For Keeps": "There is nowhere else I want to be but here. I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us."
Download or Request a free poster provided by the Academy of American Poets.
Poets
More Resources
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National Poetry MonthAcademy of American Poets
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National Poetry Month at Read Write ThinkInternational Literary Association: resources for educators