April showers bring . . . National Poetry Month!

It is indeed that time of year again.
Rejoice! Throw your hands in the air and do a little poetic dance! Tell you friends and family, and share a poem with them! Have a feast, or, at the very least, a poetry reading!
It's National Poetry Month.
This year's promo poster, designed by the Academy of American Poets, features T.S. Eliot's question from a portion of his "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—	40
[They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”]
Do I dare	45
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

I love this poem!
This is one of my favorite verses:

For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,	50
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

Read the entire poem here.
Do I dare disturb the universe?
Do you?

Celebrate Words!!

I carried my life, like a stone,

in a ragged pocket, but I

had a true weaving song, a sly

way with rhythm, a healing tone.

- Jay Wright

April is National Poetry Month. Celebrate by signing up for a daily dose of poetry throughout the month here.

Today, I celebrate with my favorite poem. What's yours? Post a comment and share.

The Waking by Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.