April is National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it's that poetry is often associated with flowers and there are a lot of flowers in April. Then again, many poets are decidedly un-flowery.

At any rate, today I saw a book by one of my favorite poets and just thought I'd blog, in no particular order, some of my favorite books of poetry that I'll be re-reading in April.

1. Collected Poems, by Wendell Berry: If you've never read Wendell Berry, you're missing out. A farmer from Kentucky, Berry does all his farming by hand. This is reflected in all of his poems, which have deceptively earthy and simple quality to them. They sound just like an old friend talking, but if you read more closely, there's amazing music in the words.

2. The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, ed. by Jack Prelutsky: This book says it's "for children," but don't let that fool you. This is one of the finest collections of poetry around. From nursery rhymes to poets by the masters, this volume is so wonderful, you won't want to let it go.

3. 5 Poets of the Pacific Northwest: As the title says, this book contains the work of 5 contemporary northwest poets, whose writing often reflects the landscape they

4. Selected Poetry, Gerard Manley Hopkins: You'd thinkVictorian Jesuit priest would be kind of stuffy, but Hopkin's poetry is full of passion and sincerity, especially in an age of formalism and tradition.

That's a few of them anyhow. Take a look through the poetry section - it's in the 811s and following in the Dewey system. It's HUGE! We have TONS of poetry - have fun with it this April, and all year 'round.