National Poetry Month 2019

April is National Poetry Month! Here Are a few Ways to Celebrate. 


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  • Read a poem every day! You can find daily poems via Poetry Daily, the Poem-a-Day on poets.org, and by listening to U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s podcast, The Slowdown.

  • Mass Poetry is part of a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds. This year’s theme is “What Is It, Then, Between Us?: Poetry & Democracy.” This spring, we’re enlisting members of our community to create erasures, or blackout poetry, of selected political documents. Submit by April 30th, and you just might see your poem on our website, the T, and other public locales.

  • If you want to make even more blackout poetry, the Academy of American Poets partnered with the Wick Poetry Center to launch Emerge, a new online tool that allows you to make, save, and send your own erasure poems using documents related to democracy. Learn more about this project here, and get started on your creations.

  • Participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18th! On this day, select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, street corners, and on social media using the hashtag #pocketpoem. Learn more here.

  • Attend the Boston National Poetry Month Festival, which will be held April 3rd-7th at various locations around the city! All events are free, and they include open mics, readings, music and dance, panel discussions, and more. The festival is co-sponsored by Tapestry of Voices and Kaji Aso Studio in collaboration with Boston Public Library and Community Church of Boston.

  • Attend a special evening with Robert Pinsky, hosted by the Grolier, on April 6th. Robert will read from his book-length poem, An Explanation of America, followed by a signing and reception. Purchase tickets here.

  • Stay up-to-date on National Poetry Month happenings in Massachusetts by checking out our Statewide Calendar. We’ll continue to add events as we hear about them, and there are already so many to be excited about, including the “Gathering Voices” poetry workshops at the Boston Public Library, Bualadh Boston: A Festival of Irish Literature, and the Juniper Literary Festival at UMass Amherst. If you know about National Poetry Month events happening in your community, share them with us by submitting to the calendar.

However you choose to celebrate, we hope you feel inspired to devote more time to poetry during the month of April, and we encourage you to check out the many poetry-related events happening across Massachusetts this month (and every month)!