SUNDAY NIGHT POETRY

 I am pleased to post a prize-winning poem by my 9-year old granddaughter.  I withhold her name for privacy reasons.  This poem was selected by Poetry.org for its Poet-to-Poet competition. 

My granddaughter's poem was the only one selected by Poetry.org from her New York school district, and it will be published online and in their poetry journal.

I've been involved with writing poetry and submitting poetry to various journals and publications for many years.  I am so pleased that my granddaughter is following in a family tradition. 

Congratulations to her and to all the young people who are writing poetry.

Here is her winning poem that will be posted on Poetry.org's webpage:


Poems

Poems hide in your shoes
Poems creep around the corners
of your dad's old newspapers
Poems can be anything
 anything at all.
They can be the rusty nail
 on your blue locker
or how you feel right after
your soccer team
won the championship
Poems can hide in the screen
of your video games
They jump into your backpack
and come with you to school.
Poems are like the beginning of a new day.
You can't see a poem unless you feel it.







Poet-to-poet projectOur Educational Project for National Poetry Month 2014For National Poetry Month 2014, we introduce Poet-to-Poet, a multimedia educational project that invites young people in grades 3-12 to write poems in response to those shared by some of the award-winning poets who serve on the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors: Poet Laureate of California Juan Felipe Herrera, National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Edward Hirsch, NEA and Guggenheim Fellow Jane Hirshfield, Lannan Foundation Fellow Naomi Shihab Nye, Pulitzer Prize-nominee Ron Padgett, Jackson Poetry Prize-winner Arthur Sze, and cofounder (with Allen Ginsberg) of the Naropa Institute Anne Waldman. Students—to participate in Poet-to-Poet, watch the videos below of Chancellors reading and discussing one of their poems. Then, write your own poem in response and email it to us at poet2poet@poets.org by April 30, 2014. Please include your name and the name of the poet below who has inspired your poem. We will consider all student poems for publication on Poets.org in May 2014. Teachers—if you are interested in using Poet-to-Poet in the classroom, we worked with a curriculum specialist to design a series of activities, aligned with the Common Core, especially for you. Go to the Lesson Plans & Happy writing!