Convent of the Sacred Heart students and faculty dabble in different genres of poetry in celebration of April’s National Poetry Month. Budding bards admire rhyme, rhythm, and repetition while exploring Haiku, prose poems, the spoken word and more.
National Poetry Month is a global event in which students, teachers, authors and poets participate throughout the month of April. The Academy of American Poets established the first 30-day dedication to poetry in 1996. The Academy chose the month of April to utilize the energy of springtime to lengthen the legacy of great poets and generate poetic curiosity, according to poetry.org. This month marks the 20th anniversary of celebrating creative expression and poetry’s role in society.
“Writing poetry is one of the greatest ways to make sense of passing time,” Chair of the English Department Dr. William Mottolese said. “Poetry helps us pin down moments and experiences. This helps us to seize our lives.”
Upper School English Teacher Dr. Cristina Baptista and Dr. William Mottolese worked together to organize a month of events in appreciation of poetry.
At the end of the month, Sacred Heart will extend Poem in Your Pocket Day to a full week. Students will observe the festivity by carrying a hard copy of a poem each day and sharing a few words or a favorite phrase with classmates, teachers, and any others who care to hear. Dr. Baptista will encourage students to share their poems in class and reflect upon their meaning.
In addition, Head Librarian and Director of the Media Center Ms. Elizabeth Fernandez emails a new poem daily to the entire student body.
“Poetry allows people of all ages to have a voice that can be refreshingly vague in some points and bold in others. There is a vein of poetry that is elusive where even the writer does not know what he or she is trying to say,” Dr. Baptista said. “Poetry in that sense can allow students who may be so conditioned to look for the perfect answer to free the mind in a necessary way.”
Outside of school, Sacred Heart offers opportunities for students to continue the celebration. Posters in the halls advertise poetry events throughout Greenwich and surrounding towns. Students are encouraged to attend events such as readings from The Katonah Poetry Series and the National Poetry Month Celebration and Book Launch in Manhattan.
“Although we sometimes get caught up in the ‘perfect answer,’ there is currently a huge global push towards creativity. Companies like Google and others in Silicon Valley are looking for more fluency in technology and are hiring more poets to create a more conversational voice,” Dr. Baptista said.
-Christina Weiler, Staff Writer