Blog: April In Albany, Feeling Inspired?

After what seemed like an interminable March—to me, at least—April has arrived at last. And it's a fine month for poetry and poetry-lovers! There are probably more poems about April than any other month; perhaps that's why this month was chosen to be National Poetry Month in 1996, by the Academy of American Poets.

Even though we're starting off with beautiful spring sunshine, that could be April's trick for us. Whether or not we get doused as April "shakes out her rain-drenched hair" on us, we could still use a lot more rain, so I'm including here, as my chosen April poem, "April Rain Song" by Langston Hughes:

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk. The rain makes running pools in the gutter. The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night—

And I love the rain.

And if you're thinking about water now, maybe head on down to the , and see what inspires a poem for you.

The has had many wonderful submissions, but you'll notice that we don't have too many poems that were written at (or about) the beach or Bulb. Maybe April will bring us some?

Happy National Poetry Month, Albany!