National Poetry Month

As many of my readers already know, my love for poetry came by way of my Momma, who often times recited and sometimes read poems to me from the time I was very little. It was her passion that lit the flame for my passion. It was a gift we shared right up until her recent death.

April is National Poetry Month. When I first learned this, several years ago, I thought it was so appropriate. Momma's birthday was April 21. This year, the celebration of Poetry Month will be even more bittersweet.

Throughout the month, I will be posting poems, resources, interviews and links for parents and teachers to use. If just one person finds something beautiful, profound, inspiring, healing or delightful in the post this month, I will have honored Momma is a way that is more than meaningful.

So, without further delay, let us start the P-A-R-T-Y!!!

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Several years ago while studying for my graduate degree, I created a wiki for poetry - specifically, international poetry. ("A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis." Resource: Wikipedia.com)

The creation of this wiki had a very specific purpose. It was to become a tool for classroom teachers in elementary and middle schools. It would allow them to access, from the classroom computer, poetry from around the world, often times in both English and the language of origin. Additionally, it gave teachers links to biographies of international poets.

The reason behind this, was that I found that while elementary and middle school classroom teachers were tasked with offering students international poetry, especially if they had international students in their classrooms, there were little to no resources. Ask any teacher, and they will attest to the fact that finding classroom resources can be daunting at best.

Click here to access PoetryEd Wiki . It is my hope that reader's, teachers and poets will make contributions to the pages. Directions on how to do all this are found on the Front Page.

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The following poem was written by me to celebrate both Momma and myself as women as well as give my daughters a positive view of the female body.

BODY-IMAGE
Momma
Isn’t tall and skinny
With blonde hair swaying
Or make-up perfectly painted
Designer clothed

Momma
Is soft and cuddly
Gray curls cupping her chin
Laugh lines and wrinkles
Clothing her face

Me
I was a carpenter’s dream
Surfer’s delight
Flat as a board
Twiggy

Until four babies later

Now
The roundness of my body
Delights me
Ruben-esque
Goddess-like

I
Find comfort
In the curves
Pleasures radiate in
Their softness

Like Momma, I am a real woman

By Linda Rhinehart Neas © 2005

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