Poetry Talk

The Poetry Foundation just awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award to poet Patricia Smith. Also known as the Lilly Poetry Prize, it's awarded to extraordinary poets for accomplishments made throughout their lifetimes. Smith is known for her poems like "Blood Dazzler" and "Incendiary Art." The award for the Lilly Poetry Prize is $100,000.

Other awards were also chosen, including the Pegasus Award and five poetry fellows. Each will receive their own monetary awards as well.

Have you heard of any other accomplished poets in your area lately? Share their work in the chat. 

This past year and a half has been difficult on almost everyone, and many believe we are at the brink of a mental health crisis. My teen and I were just having a discussion about processing feelings and the things people do--from staying busy to listening to music or talking about emotions with friends. We decided that keeping busy can be helpful, especially if you're feeling stuck, but that it's also important to sit with feelings, feel them and process in a meaningful way.

For teen me, that way was usually poetry. I wrote to process everything from the deaths of loved ones to breakups with friends, assault to love to anger and so much more. It really helped me understand things in a way that talking just didn't, and I suspect that's why today I have trouble. I don't write poetry like I used to and my body and mind could really benefit from some poetry writing.

How about you? Does writing poetry to process feelings help you? Does it help your students or kids? Share your thoughts in the chat.

September is nearly upon us and it's time for all of that back to school, autumn spice, falling leaves, sweater weather goodness! Where I live, it's not likely to become sweater weather until mid-month or later, but it remains one of my favorite times of the year. This year will still look different for most of us because of the pandemic, but there are still lots of things to love about the season--including fall poetry.

William Wordsworth's "September, 1819" is a classic that many people like to read at this time of year. Yeat's "September, 1913" is another. Everyone loves Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay," and Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73" is a good autumn one. These are all classics, but I'd love to learn more modern ones if anyone has a favorite.

One of my favorite quotes about autumn in general is by George Eliot. I love it so much I share it on social media every first day of fall. What is your favorite poem or quote about September or fall in general? Share it in the chat.

There have been several interesting stories in poetry news this week:

Australian Poetry Month has just begun and poet Grace Tame began the festivities by reading her poem, "The Unscathed are Most Scathing." Other events include workshops, more poetry readings and poetry commissions. 

A $750,000 Mellon grant has been awarded to the African Poetry Digital Portal to help expand both scholarship and research in African poetry. The grant is for three years and will help the portal make digital hubs that universities may access to study African poetry.

Maggie Smith has a new collection of poetry available called Goldenrod. 

What other poetry news have you read? Is there anything happening where you live? Share it in the chat.