Poetry is for everyone, but so many of us learned that poets must be people from the past who do not look or sound anything like us. Perhaps school taught you that poems must rhyme a certain way or convey some elusive meaning or [fill in the blank]. Yet, poetry is an ancient and inherent human practice of art-making that has rich cultural traditions all around the world and has long been a radical tool of question-asking, meaning-making, and community-building. Poetry is for us! And we need it now.
In this time of profound political and environmental crisis, so many of us are feeling overwhelming emotions and looking for places of hope and repair. Poetry certainly cannot solve every catastrophe of our moment, but poems to be places that can witness, hold, and honor the complexity of times like these. Our ancestors have known this to be true and contemporary poets of the moment are continuing this practice.
As The Village Well Books and Coffee celebrates Poetry Month, we invite you to spend time with this art form that is both imaginative and grounded, that defies definition and creates it. Move slowly through contemporary Palestinian poet Fady Joudah’s […] which declares that “wonder belongs to us all.” Linger and yearn with feminist Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad’s Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season. Pick up Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude for a jolt of hope and warm poetic hug.Poetry is for you. It is for all of us, and it is an essential tool for survival in these times.
We encourage you to be brave in participating in its creation. We welcome everyone to Village Well’s monthly Poetry Book Club. At our next gathering on Wednesday, May 6th at 6:30pm, we will be discussing Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong. You can pick up a copy at the store or online! This poetry month you are also invited to participate in Village Well’s second annual poetry competition! From now until April 29th, come browse our poetry selection, draft a poem, and drop it in the box at the front of the store to win a special prize.
We are excited to read your work and celebrate poetry together.
Meg Whelan/Village Well
