Dear readers and stumblers-upon,
I started this blog 13 (!) Aprils ago because I wanted to share one of my greatest loves–poetry–with my friends. For years I had been hearing a similar echo from people when it came to talking about poetry, a mishmash of reactions that included “it’s inaccessible” “I don’t get it,” “I don’t know where to begin,” “I don’t have the patience for it,” “I hate rhyme,” and so forth.
National Poetry Month seemed like the ideal time to invite others to revisit a form they had written off sometime around high school English class and to suggest different works to fellow poetry readers. And it was also a challenge to myself… to post a new poem (and poet) every day, to move beyond my bookshelf and back to the unexplored shelves of the library, and to remind myself why, exactly, I love poetry so dearly. Although my posting tends to be sporadic outside of April, I try to continue sharing when the mood strikes.
Whether you are a friend of mine or a random googler, I invite you to take a moment out of your busy days to read some verse. I can’t promise that all of these poems will be to your liking, but I hope that a handful of them–even just one– will move you, confuse you, unnerve you, comfort you…make you think, make you hungry, make you remember, or make you appreciate this beautiful, heartbreaking world in a new way.
Natalie
P.S. If you are overwhelmed by the number of things you have to check online, just type your e-mail address in on the top right of the homepage and the posts will conveniently arrive in your inbox. And, if you have a reaction to a poem or want to suggest another one, please, please leave a comment!
live in the layers 
Keep spreading the words! 🙂
Léa
And I wait for April
to be bombarded
by you
with poems
and more poems.
🙂
In your mission I,
humbly rejoice for the sweet,
poems ease my soul
“How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?”
It’s the question I keep on asking, since the first time I heard The Layers read on the radio, in 2001, and almost wrecked my car on the freeway for the impact it had on me as I listened.
Where have you gone, Natalie?
I’ve been enjoying reading through your blog, it’s perfect for these winter evenings when all you want is to rest with a warm drink and climb into the world of poetry. I totally “get it” in regard to the world of poetry! Hope to see you posting again. Nice baklava too. 🙂
Natalie – i love your blog – and somehow our blogs have gotten linked. Can you send me your email address to deenametzger@verizon.net so we can see if we need to / how we can / disentangle.
Thank you
so glad to have found you and your poetic posts…was looking for a particular poem by Natalie shihab nye to send to a friend…thank you for what you do. I am a lover of poetry = )
Thanks for reading and sharing, Debra!
Thank you for the poems! Stumbled on this yesterday and very grateful for it ❤ I have a radio show that has poems stories and songs, including kunitz on it. If you want to check it out, it's here:
http://bit.do/sss-08