Happy National Poetry Month

April 1st means many things to many people.

• For some, it is April Fools Day.
• For some, it marks the beginning of the Baseball Season.
• For still others, it's the beginning of National Poetry Month.

Why was April chosen for National Poetry Month? Perhaps because

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

Or perhaps

WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

T.S. Eliot and Chaucer are the usual explanations given.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, in honor of National Poetry Month this year, I have started a poetry ezine.

Generations of Poetry - The eZine for Genealogists

The mission of the zine will be to share: poetry on the genealogy obsession (the research, the rewards, the pitfalls), as well as biographical poems about ancestors and kin. We will include poetry by famous authors (such as Robert Frost, who inspired the title of the zine with his poem, Generations of Men). We are also open for submissions from poets interested in genealogy, and genealogists with a hankering for poetry.

There will be a poem-a-day during the month of April.  I've already received enough submissions that this is guaranteed. And I am very pleased with the quality of poetry I have been receiving, and I hope others will be, too.

The frequency of poetry after that will be completely dependent upon submissions.

Interested poets should read the guidelines for submission.