April is
National Poetry Month. Besides the official site, lots of links to poets, poetry, games, and forms can also be found through
Infoplease. The
Library of Congress has resources as well, including links and podcasts for our
Poet Laureates. Another useful site is
The Poetry Foundation. Some new poems by established poets can be found on
30 Poets 30/Days.
Some other interesting sites include
Giggle Poetry, the
Daily Poem,
FindPoetry.com,
The Poetry Archive, and
Famous Poetry Online. On Garrison Keillor's daily radio program,
Writer's Almanac, he reads a poem each day.
Poems are not always just straight forward
iambic pentameter or even
free verse. There are some strange and interesting forms to investigate and try out.
Sol Magazine has an illustrated list of several, including a "wave", a "dorsimbra", a "redondilla", and a "pleiades". Some other fun forms are
clerihews,
fibs (based on a
Fibonacci sequence),
haiku,
"Concrete" Poetry, and
"Found" Poetry. One variation of "Found" poetry is done by
stacking books so the titles on their spines make a poem.
Anyone can make poetry online, too. Try
Magnetic Poetry or
Instant Poetry Forms.
