April is Poetry Month. Here we go!

It is warmish, and I am sitting in a sunny spot paging through poetry books. Poems pull at my sleeve and try to climb into my lap. They clamor to be included in the month's festivities. I think of my stalwart contest participants from previous years, and I picture them reciting these poems from memory.

Why memorize a poem? In her gorgeous anthology, Poems to Learn by Heart, Caroline Kennedy, says, "Poets distill life's lessons into the fewest possible words. If...things seem to be falling apart, we can recall a poem that reassures us. If we find ourselves in unfamiliar or frightening surroundings, a poem can remind us that others have journeyed far and returned safely home. If we learn poems by heart, we will always have their wisdom to draw on, and we gain understanding that no one can take away."

I want to close by thanking my 8th grade teachers for making us memorize Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. I don't think any of us cared one bit about it at the time, but all these years later is is still there, like a soundtrack to my life.