Both Canada and the United States celebrate April as national poetry month. Since Bardo is an international effort, we will celebrate the month as an international event. Poetry is a shared heritage that knows no borders.
Among the blog posts we’ll publish during this month is a piece by Blaga Todorova (Between the Shadows and the Soul) on the Bulgarian poet and former Bulgarian Vice President, Blaga Dimitrova. Included in our line-up is a memorable poem by New York’s first lady, wife of Mayor Bill De Blasio, Chirlane McCray. There will be a piece on writing poetry by English poet, Myra Schneider (Myra Schneider’s Poetry Website), and an article on the Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibran. Corina Ravenscraft (Dragon’s Dreams) will start us off on April 1 with some ideas for celebrating with family and friends.
While we don’t plan to post poems and/or essays on poetry every day, we’ll do so quite a bit. Also, along with the Academy of American Poets, we’ll celebrate A Poem in Your Pocket on Thursday, April 24, when everyone is invited to share a poem and/or a piece about a favored poet no matter the poet’s time or place. Mister Linky will go up and you can link in your own work or share a URL to work you admire. Or, if you prefer, you can share a poem or comment on a poet in the comment section of that day’s post. Mister Linky will open at 12:01 a.m. on the 24th.
This evening we kick-off poetry month – a day-and-a-half early, yes! – with award-winning Canadian slam poet and writer, Shane Koyczan, who first came to the wider world’s attention with his poem We Ae More at the 2010 Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver. This video begins with Death Be Not Proud by British poet John Donne (1572-1631) and moves into Shane’s performance of one of his early poems, Move Pen Move.
CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL POETRY MONTH WITH US
“Poets are the unacknowled legislators of the world.” Percy B. Shelley (1792-1822), English Romantic poet, In Defense of Poetry
HAPPY MOTHERING SUNDAY TO OUR FRIENDS IN THE UK
from The Bardo Group
tomorrow’s post by Niamh Clune (Plum Tree Books) will honor the day
and don’t forget to join us on Wednesday, April 23, for Victoria Slotto’s (Victoria C. Slotto, Author/Fiction, Poetry and Writing Prompts) Writers’ Fourth Wednesday prompt. Mister Linky will go up for sharing your work at 12:01 a.m. P.S.T. on the 23rd.
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Join us on our Facebook page, THE BARDO GROUP
Illustration ~ Fan with quatrain poem attributed to Emperor Gaozong of Song (1107-1187), the tenth Chinese emperor of the Song Dynasty, part of the John B. Elliott Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. The photograph is by Neutrality and generously released into the public domain.
– The Bardo Group
The BeZine 
Looking forward to it, Jamie.
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I’ll look forward to seeing what rich thing you have to share, Niamh.
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Oh my goodness, gracious me, what an immense poem by Shane Koyczan. Move pen move … you sort of get the feeling this encapsulates the feeling sod writers and poets everywhere, “gotta write a mountain”. Woweee!
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I agree, John. I rather wish the video was just recitation and not music and photos though. I do like it juxtaposed with Donne’s poem. Look forward to your participation in Poetry Month. 🙂
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P.S. That shouldn’t say “sod writers and poets everywhere” but “OF poets and writers …” !!
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🙂
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I’m fired up! Got an idea from a poet blogger friend to try to write a Haiku or an American Sentence (17-syllable sentence developed by Ginsburg) to accompany a photo I take each day. I’m sure I won’t arrive at one a day, but hopefully more than if I don’t give it a try! Will post on my blog.
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It will be something very simple dedicated to poets whoever they are, Jamie.
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Very powerful video, I thought, not so much the visual, but the visceral voice. Mmmm.
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I think the visual is a distraction and wish they hadn’t done it. A simple presentation of the poem is enough. Nonetheless, it seems a good kick-off poem. Thanks for your always thoughtful comments, Priscilla.
Jamie
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