April is National Poetry Month!

Dusk is one of my favorite parts of the day – the time when the tree branches slowly dance in the breeze and the sky begins to grow dim. Birds are singing their final songs, and in a few more weeks crickets will begin to take over the evening’s soundtrack.

I think that the English language is beautiful. There are certain words that simply stir my heart, bringing to mind images and emotions and memories. Perhaps this has to do with being a creative writing major and spending time searching for the perfect word. In that case, I am a dork in the fullest sense of the word for my major. One of my teachers in the poetry department once said that fiction is a celebration of humanity but poetry is a celebration of language. That, I suppose, is what has drawn me to enjoy poetry more.

Natalie Lloyd drew my attention to the fact that it is National Poetry Month, and I couldn’t let that slip by without sharing some of my favorites. I have mentioned before William Wadsworth Longfellow’s “I Wander’d Lonely as a Cloud” and John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 14.” Robert Frost is one of my other favorite poets, and as I was reading through some of his work I came across the following poem. Fireflies are one of my favorite images, so this poem immediately stuck in my heart:

“Fireflies in the Garden” – Robert Frost

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,

And here on earth come emulating flies,

That though they never equal stars in size,

(And they were never really stars at heart)

Achieve at times a very star-like start.

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.

I would love it if I were able to work on a poem over the next couple of weeks and share it with you in honor of April, but these weeks are some of the busiest I will have all semester, so I am making no promises. However, next fall, when I begin work on my thesis, I am sure I will have much more poetry to share with whatever few people read this blog.

Enjoy the wonderful warmer weather!