National Poetry Month

  • Poetic Fiction for Teens: Recent Novels in Verse

    Poetic Fiction for Teens: Recent Novels in Verse

    Novels in verse offer the best of both worlds: a solid plot with characters that pull you in and a lot of white space on the page, so the story is all meat and no filler. Here are some great new titles from the last year or so.  (MS = middle school)  In Nikita Gill’s book Hekate, young Hekate finds herself an orphan,… Continue reading

  • Arab American Heritage Month

    Arab American Heritage Month

    There have been some amazing Arab and Arab American books out lately, so just in time for Arab American Heritage month, here are some books and authors to explore: Omar El Akkad’s One Day, We Will All Have Been Against This is already one of the buzziest books of the year. Portland area Arab Canadian… Continue reading

  • Verse Novels for National Poetry Month

    Looking to add something to your nightstand reading to commemorate National Poetry Month, but long for the narrative pull of a good novel? Welcome to the world of novels in verse, a fascinating corner of the fictional universe that picks up where classic verse epics and other traditional narrative poetry leaves off. No matter your… Continue reading

  • Teen Novels in Verse

    To celebrate National Poetry Month, here are eleven terrific titles in verse. In Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne, Skyy feels terribly alone after her best friend’s boyfriend calls her a name she can’t forgive or forget.  Her sudden freedom allows her to see herself in a new light and consider all the ways she… Continue reading

  • Celebrate National Poetry Month 2022

    April is National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate the role played by poetry and poets in our culture, and to read some poetry! We’ve got you all set to find a collection of poetry to sink into, with lists created by librarians for adults, teens, and kids. Seattle Picks: 2021 Poetry Revisited 2021 was… Continue reading

  • What Happens When Poetry Propagates a Nation?

    Citizens, the month of harvest is here. Celebrate National Poetry Month. Here comes, once again, An American Sunrise. Arrived, once again, a proliferation of poetry; each poem The Winged Seed of a thousand thoughts. From whence do they come, these Words Like Thunder? Of course, from poets, those propagating Children of Grass who Forage for Earth… Continue reading

  • The Last Note Begins with See Sharp: On Transforming Your Thoughts into Poetry

    In the first four weeks of April, Shelf Talk published the series An April Quartet in honor of National Poetry Month. Each blog post was centered around an accompanying resource list, An April Quartet: In Alto, Poets Face that Discordant Sound, An April Quartet:  Some Soprano Sops Up a Poem’s Bread (the Rising), An April… Continue reading

  • An April Quartet, Part IV: Tenor, in the Tenor of these Times, Raise Your Voice High

    What do you say, to yourself and others, about these days we are living through? How are you describing the events, people, known and unknown, the circumstances and situations you witness or find yourself encountering? Your words may be heard by a few, by many or you alone, either way you give voice to the… Continue reading

  • An April Quartet, Part III: Bass Note of Blue, the Flowering

    This Spring greets us with peril and possibility. More than a movie, more than any play or book in which we can flip fast to the end and find out what happens, walk out, grab a snack or turn the dang thing off we just don’t know, do we, when this will be over? We… Continue reading

  • An April Quartet, Part II: Some Soprano Sops a Poem’s Bread (the Rising)

    When poetry is on the menu how can you go wrong? There is such a bounty of poems, in the world, about our favorite pastime that you can have your pick and there’s plenty more where that came from! We have to start somewhere and that somewhere is right here. The resource list, An April… Continue reading

  • An April Quartet:  In Alto, Poets Face that Discordant Sound

    This is how April will find us, still, in the throes of this great viral mystery. Who shall be next? Who will escape, sometimes, barely? Hold on! Persist. Where to find solace and perspective? In poetry, perhaps. In honor of National Poetry Month, we have prepared a map of sorts. A poetic map of terrain… Continue reading

  • FIRST FOLIO! From You Have I Been Absent in the Spring: Of Shakespeare and the Sonnet

    When forty winters shall besiege thy brow (Sonnet 2) Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface (Sonnet 6) Not marble nor the gilded monuments (Sonnet 55) Full many a glorious morning have I seen (Sonnet 33) One glorious morning before April has fled, perhaps, you will mosey on down to the Central Library, with ticket in… Continue reading

  • Begin the Poem

    ~posted by Library Staff Let’s get down to business, the business of beginning to enter the poem. It will cost you, you know, time and more time that you can imagine.  But, if you allow yourself the journey, if you permit the path to form then may you, traveler, travel on, On Poetry. There is… Continue reading

  • Northeast Branch holds poetry contest in April

    ~posted by Library Staff Adults, teens and children are invited to enter their original poetry in the Northeast Branch All Ages Poetry Contest during the month of April. Continue reading

  • The Possibility of Poetry

    By Library Staff Sometime, during this season of growth, why not follow that bud of thought and branch out, bloom into the possibility of poetry. Poetry is as wide-mouthed as a nest of hungry birds. Where to begin but with that squiggly line of a title whose scent reeks of earthbound adventures beckoning you to… Continue reading

  • Got Poem?

    Posted by Tom It’s National Poetry Month once again, and as usual, Seattle and its libraries are awash in poetry events. The Northeast Branch is hosting its annual all-ages poetry contest, in which everyone is invited to submit a poem at any time in April, and potentially win prizes (including the Wedgie grand prize trophy) and… Continue reading

  • Haiku blossoms in April

    Posted by Diane “Winter moon hovers powerlines ripple the dark crows fly toward home.” This haiku at the Beacon Hill Library is one of four carved onto large rocks in the landscaped grounds.  The haiku were composed by folks in our neighborhood and were selected to be engraved when the new building opened in 2004. … Continue reading

  • It’s Rhyme Time in Seattle: Poetry events around town

    It’s National Poetry Month once again, and Seattle’s got it covered. First of all, Seattle Public Library offers many opportunities to write, read, and hear poetry all month long at various branches around the city: The winning haikus from our city-wide Haiku contest are posted here on our website, with one featured each day through April… Continue reading