April is National Poetry Month, established in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. Thirty years of celebrating the art of poetry! I know several city Poets Laureates are busy with activities ranging from larger public readings to smaller ‘Poems in your Pocket’ bookmarks that are distributed to people walking down the street. I’ve seen poems hanging from main street trees, haiku painted on downtown sidewalks, and poems recited on city busses and in front of stores–like town criers. Even if poets don’t submit their work for competition, poetry is meant to be shared. Over the next several weeks I’ll introduce some poets and share some of their work.
The first poet I’m highlighting is inspirational poet, Laura Faulkenberry Howard. Laura was the right choice for the week after Easter as her poetry draws on her deep faith and connection to the Easter message of hope and salvation. In her gentle, lyrical poetry Laura, author of 16 books of poetry, invites her readers to experience that same hope and love of Jesus. I read Laura’s poetry and hear the strong message and uplifting spirit of traditional gospel music that grounds, soothes and strengthens a weary soul.
Jesus is Forever Faithful and Forever True, covers many of Laura’s themes–heavenly home, saving grace, God’s everlasting love. The poem, Walking and Talking with Jesus ends:
His love forever remains with us all,/He bore the cross, meant for us,/claiming our souls/Forever we wear His Holy name/Forever we have now been changed/no longer the same// Darkness can never hide HIS truth/Silence can never still His Holy voice/we will rise in Him with every breath/ He is ours forever/we are His forever, and we will forever rejoice.
Laura also creates prayerful, poetic writing journals and coloring books. All her work can be found on her website Laura Faulkenberry Howard
The second poet for today is Pat Riviere-Seel. I’ve known Pat’s work through her poems in Kakalak, one being the title poem from her 2021 collection, When There Were Horses. These poems are of brokenness–of the body, one’s spirit, relationships, the earth. As Riviere-Seel beautifully reminds the reader, we all experience brokenness of some kind. But the poet doesn’t leave us in that place. She shows us the way through, helps us focus on what comes after.
Riviere-Seel’s poetry is a lesson in not seeing the brokenness as an end, but simply as a change, like in the poem From the Almanac of Broken Things, “… the woods for the ways trees/bend, fall, and return to dirt.//I choose the sand dollar, the nautilus/that in brokenness finds new creation.”
From How to Get Where You Need to Go: “… Or start with the first conscious breath you took/before you opened your eyes, before/you became aware of your waking./Bless the bug, bless the breath./Keep practicing gratitude for the small things.”
When There Were Horses is available through Main Street Rag Publishing, here. As well as her most recent collection, Because I Did Not Drown.
As life sometimes happens and redirects us, I’ll not be at my window for a few days. I’ll miss next Monday. I’m okay! I’ll be back soon. I have a short but diverse bookstack of poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month and I’ll open them for you when I open my window again. May your weekend and week ahead be filled with the kind of love and hope found in today’s books of poetry!
And if you’re a poet or an artist, submissions to Kakalak remains open for a couple more weeks. The deadline is May 1.
A Writer's Window 