National Poetry Month is Upon Us

Do you read poetry? If so, this is the month for you. There is poetry to suit every sensibility and reading level. My preference is for contemporary work, especially that of women poets. I have a few suggestions for you.

My friends over at Gyroscope Review, a quarterly contemporary poetry journal that I co-founded with current editor Constance Brewer, released their spring issue today and I’m thrilled that one of my paintings is on the cover. Constance also used some of my photos inside the issue. Click on the cover below to see a list of the many fine poets published in this issue and to get a copy of your own.

I’m also celebrating the one-year anniversary of the publication of my chapbook, How We Learned to Shut Our Own Mouths (Gyroscope Press 2021). My son’s artwork graces its cover. The book was, in part, a response to the emotional upheaval of the pandemic. The poems are grounded in family and the Minnesota landscape, contemporary in tone and form. You can get a copy by clicking on the cover below.

Recently, I was contacted by poet Joanne Durham regarding her new book out today: To Drink from a Wider Bowl (Evening Street Press 2022). The poems encompass a lifetime of connections with family and the world, covering the phases so many of us move through with rich layers of attention and love. I’m really pleased that Joanne agreed to an interview about her work and to celebrate her publication which will appear on One Minnesota Crone on April 15. In the meantime, click on the cover below to get a copy of To Drink from a Wider Bowl.

I know there’s plenty of other work to celebrate, but we can start right here. That said, I’ll leave you with a poem that I particularly like by Naomi Shihab Nye. Her work always gets my attention for the sense of kindness that runs through all of it, so, of course, I thought I would share her poem titled, “Kindness.” The link for the poem below will take you to the American Academy of Poets website, Poets.org. Enjoy.

Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye