April is poetry month

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I'm not a great lover of poetry.  Or I wasn't.

Now that I am a teacher and have the month of April to spend exploring poetry with my students I have found so many delightful and unexpected aspects to poetry that I really enjoy.

Poetry can be fun.
Poetry can be playful.
Poetry can be playing with words. 

Here is a brand new book of poetry that qualifies as all of the above that I will be sharing with classes this month.

Poetry can be simple.
Poetry can be surprising.

One poet I admire for his deceptively simple poems that are remarkably unforgettable is William Carlos Williams.  For a long time I hung this well-known and beloved poem of his on my refrigerator door:

This Is Just To Say

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

A colleague of mine noticed a recent article in the New York Times that reveals some interesting background information about William Carlos Williams' poem,  The Red Wheelbarrow. The NY Times article tells a fascinating story about the real person behind this poem. These few simple lines of poetry years later ended up inspiring a historian to research and uncover a lost story. Which now gives us an opportunity to remember. Amazing.

April is Poetry Month.
I encourage you to take a moment and read a poem.
It may very well surprise you.