National Poetry Month

Pretty Makes a Better Adverb


Sheet music cover of "A Pretty Girl Is li...

Sheet music cover of "A Pretty Girl Is like a Melody". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

April is not just about showers that bring the flowers of May. Nor is it merely about poetry.

It’s also Guitar Month, Humor Month, Autism Awareness Month, Cancer Control Month and Occupational Therapy Month, Animal Cruelty Prevention Month, Autism Awareness Month, Books to Brighten Young Minds Months, Community Spirit Month, Confederate History Month, Couple Appreciation Month, International Customer Loyalty Month, International Guitar Month, International Legacy Month, Keep America Beautiful Month, Lawn and Garden Month, Mathematics Education Month, National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month, National Humor Month, National Pet First Aid Awareness Month, National Self-Publishing Month, National Smile Month, National Youth Sports Safety Month, Occupational Therapy Month, Pets Are Wonderful Month, School Library Month, Spring Break Month, Straw Hat Month,  and World Habitat Awareness Month.

All that and still the most interesting thing remains poetry?

I take poetic license then and share what some would disdainfully call a “feminist rant in metered time”, but I think, for poetry, is a pretty damn good poem that says more about the tyranny of “pretty” in a few minutes than I could in an hour.

poems suitable for the modern world with its short attention spans and commuter trains


I am reminded recently that April is Poetry Month. When I was still teaching public school, I knew all the various, and somewhat useless, monthly designations. There was usually more than one, and months could be so weighted down, it’s a wonder they progressed one to the next at all.

Poetry was my least favorite subject to teach but being an English teacher, I was obliged and the grade sevens that I taught were giddy whenever I steeled myself enough to endure more than a few days of it in a row.

Age as not modified much my indifference to poetry, but in keeping with the month, I will share this little gem that I stumbled across in a vain search for some bit of rhyme that didn’t render me even more indifferent:

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