Big Poetry Giveaway and Other Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month

Happy National Poetry Month! Yes, April is busy, and yes, I'd prefer we have National Poetry Month in January, but since the month now has momentum of its own, we'll celebrate!

Kelli Russell Agodon has launched her wonderful Big Poetry Giveaway for 2011. Go here for complete details. You've got lots of chances to win books; go here for the updated list of who's participating; Kelli's even taken the time to link to the blogs. Basically, all you have to do to be entered is to leave a comment, and if you're commenting as Anonymous, you'll need to leave a way to get in touch with you. On May 2 or 3, I'll put all the names in a bread bowl, and I'll draw out some winners. I'm also likely to have some surprise winners, more than 2, for books yet to be announced, so stay tuned! One book that I've really been enjoying this month has been my friend Shefali Choksi's new book, Frontier Literature. She writes amazing poetry, the kind that makes me shake my head in wonder at the connections she makes. If you're the kind of person who loves allusions to fairy tales and mythology, she's the poet for you. Plus, she uses both western fairy tales/mythology and fairy tales/mythology from her native India. She's remarkable, and I'm happy to share her work with you.

The second book that I will give away is a copy of my first chapbook, pictured below.

What else am I planning for National Poetry Month? I need to work on promoting my forthcoming chapbook, I Stand Here Shredding Documents. The amount of copies sold in this prepublication period determines how many copies overall will be printed, so I need to work on generating sales (go here to order; I'll be happy to sign it for you later, and I'll pay for the postage it will take to get you that signature). I'm also going to read a book of poems a week along with Dave Bonta and others, and participate in a phone interview with each poet and Dave that will later be available as a podcast. For the schedule, go here. And for those of you writing a poem each day, here's Kelli's list of all new prompts, and here's my list of prompts that I created last year. Happy National Poetry Month everyone--may you enjoy poems, either those that you write or those that you read. May your month be filled with happy surprises and wonder.