National Poetry Month

Snow on Lilacs

April may or may not be “the cruelest month,” but it is National Poetry Month. Inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, the designation serves to “celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.” In honor of National Poetry Month, then, we offer you the following link to a collection of “Poems for April” from the Electronic Poetry Center, as well as a cool hypertext site for T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922), which is, of course, the source of that “cruelest month” crack at the beginning of this post. The site integrates Eliot’s own notes on the poem alongside the text, and includes as well commentary from other scholarly sources. And finally, on a less serious note, a link to the website PoemHunter.Com, where you can search for poems about April, poets named April, quotations including April, etc., etc., etc.

Weekly Poetry-Writing Prompt

Courtesy of the exciting new online Asian American poetry journal Lantern Review, prompt yourself to write a poem once a week.

Miscellaneous news in Asian American literature

• Marilyn Chin, noted Asian American poet, has just published her first novel: Revenge of the Mooncake Vixens.
• Karen Tei Yamashita, author of Through the Arc of the Rain Forest (narrated by a ball!) and other novels, is coming out with a new novel, I-Hotel, in May 2010.
• New literary journal Kartika Review “strives to create a literary forum that caters to and celebrates the wordsmiths of the Asian Diaspora.”
• Lantern Review is a new Asian American poetry journal, and it is opening its doors for submissions in October 2009.

The President-Elect Reads Poetry

Apparently, the President-elect of the U.S.A. reads poetry, including the work of Derek Walcott, at least according to an article in England’s Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3401542/Barack-Obama-still-has-time-for-a-little-poetry.html