If you’re reading this article on the date of its publication, then it’s not too late to celebrate National Poetry Month. America has been celebrating Nation Poetry Month for a whopping 13 years now and during the entire month of April you too can participate with the many activities on the RWC campus.To start things off, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival will be performing Macbeth in RWC’s theatre on April 24, starting at 10 a.m. and running to noon. You can also attend the Poetry Cafe and reading on April 27 starting at 6 p.m. and running roughly till 9 p.m. This will take place in Room 100 of the Science and Allied Health Building. Along with the readings from winners in the annual poetry and songwriting contests, there will be readings from published author and featured poet Gary Walton.
But if you can’t find a way to fit these events into your schedule, you can always observe the hallway walls of RWC as students, faculty, and staff will be posting their favorite poems as well as original poetry.
RWC English Professor Rhonda Pettit coordinates National Poetry Month events here annually.
“National Poetry Month was actually established by the Academy of American Poets,” she said. “Their goal was to encourage both the general public and schools at all levels to read and share poetry. This is important because as an art form, poetry can tell us something about ourselves and our culture that we don’t hear or read through normal outlets like TV or web sites or print media or textbooks. It links the intellectual with the emotional in a profound way. At Raymond Walters College, we support these values by celebrating poetry each April.
What’s the purpose of it all? “To bring the art of poetry to the people,” Professor Pettit said, “and therefore keep the art alive. Through a month of readings and performances and other events, like writing contests, citizens are encouraged to read and write poems.”
Professor Pettit does not see poetry as a dying art form.
“People used to read poetry (and novels) for entertainment,” she said, “but now poetry has a lot of competition from video and computer games, film, sports, etc. At the same time, a large variety of good poetry is being published in print and online. There are many good poets out there. I don’t think it’s a dying art even though its audience may have contracted a bit. This could change. Now we even have poetry videos online!