(5) WAYS TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

(1) READ A BOOK OF POETRY
     Select a book by your favorite poet or a new poet on the block and browse the pages throughout the month. I'm reading Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

(2) MEMORIZE A POEM
     Learning a poem by heart gives the two of you a very special relationship. Be extra brave. Try one of your own! You will be surprised how good it makes you feel!

(3) REVISIT A POEM
     Dig out a classic piece like Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade," and be amazed all over again. Okay, you don't have to dig that deep.

(4) ATTEND A POETRY READING
     Check out this April's agenda at the public library, or a local poetry association for current events in your area. Also stay-tuned to this blog, LET'S TALK POETRY, where certain happenings will be posted.

(5) READ A POEM AT AN OPEN MIC
     This form of celebration will take a little more heart for those of us who are bashful. But find an event in your area, put your name on the list, and JUST DO IT. You can read, or recite that poem you memorized from #3 above. I promise you, once you read at an open mic, your whole life as a poet will be transformed.