Now’s a great time for some poetry.
April is National Poetry Month, and while our gatherings might have been reduced, there are a lot of great ways to share and even create poetry together remotely.
- Here’s NPR Poet-in-Residence Kwame Alexander’s crowd sourced poem “Social Distance”
- Check out NPM resources at the Academy of American Poets, including videos of more than 20 poets, including Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Natasha Tretheway, Marie Howe, and more reading their work in the Dear Poet project.
- Last year local leaders recited poems for our Poetry by Heart project. Those are worth another listen. Get them all on the project page, or here they are one at a time:
★ City of Roanoke Vice Mayor Joe Cobb
★ City of Roanoke Council Member Michelle L. Davis
★ Soul Sessions’ Harvest Blaque (a.k.a. Bryan Hancock)
★ City of Roanoke Director of Libraries Sheila Umberger
★ Keeley Healing Arts Artist-in-Residence Sandee McGlaun
★ Roanoke County Director of Library Services Shari Henry
★ City of Roanoke Public Art Coordinator Susan Jennings
★ CoLab Director Brad Stephens