April is National Poetry Month!
Go write something!
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/tracy-k-smith?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7YblBRDFARIsAKkK-dJ7-GvT8ZekC-a8z1f1-MhZedlwN7JfIHroYXgv6-zP2cDPUd5GyRMaAlBPEALw_wcB
Poet Laureate
Stepping Down As Poet Laureate
NEWS!
I am updating my Public Profile FB page, as well as my web site to reflect my current endeavors!
Please take a minute to VISIT and LIKE “JoAnne Diodato” on FB, and visit my web site joannediodato.com
My personal FB page Jo Diodato will remain the same.
As I prepare to step down as Hanover’s Poet Laureate, I am glad that I am passing the baton to Bitsy Sanders, because she loves writing as much as I do, and she sees the power of words. The title will be in good hands. Congratulations, Bitsy!
Laurels in the Garden–A Night of Poetry and Art
Five Degrees
Five Degrees
Record cold temps
two months straight
polar vortex
notwithstanding
raw penetrates
the walls
as I sit
here in front
of the fire
huddled in
sweats and blankets
the chill remains
in feet and hands
in the deep part
inside me
rimed pit between
sternum and spine
deep frost numb
they say
that love burns
©2015 JD
Yule Night Lullaby
Yule Night Lullaby
When the wind blows through the pine boughs,
may it rock you fast asleep,
fill your dreams with velvet visions,
fill your heart with true belief.
I will sing of winter journeys
as the moon rides through the sky,
sing a song of ancient wisdom,
sing a Yule Night lullaby.
May the secret of the Holly
show the way through sacred stones,
give you courage and conviction,
give protection as you roam.
As the harp strings turn the Great Wheel,
spinning stars in veiled designs,
bringing music with their magick,
bring a Yule Night lullaby.
Now the Stag joins with the Archer
so his arrows bring no harm,
as the Green Man and the woodlands
hold you softly safe and warm.
May the Goddess lead you lightly
with the Sidhe and all the Fae,
through the labyrinth of the Solstice
with a Yule Night lullaby.
© 12/12 JD
Haiku in the Streets Workshop Success!
http://www.eveningsun.com/News/ci_26153745/Haikus-in-Hanover:-Kids-hit-the-streets-at-poemwriting-workshop
Haikus in Hanover: Kids hit the streets at poem-writing workshop
It’s important to expose children to poetry at an early age, said poet laureate
POSTED: 07/15/2014 05:57:30 PM EDT
Zakiya Alston gets help counting haiku syllables from her mom, Christine Miller, on July 14. (Clare Becker – The Evening Sun)
Poet Laureate JoAnne Diodato bowed to the children attending the Haiku in the Streets workshop at Guthrie Memorial Library, asking “Now, who knows how to say hello in Japanese?”
The seven participants repeated “konnichiwa” to each other as they began the July 14 workshop on haiku poetry and the culture from which it originated.
Some of the students were as young as second grade, Diodato said, and the earlier you introduce children to poetry, the more likely they are to enjoy it as they grow up.
“Haikus are a more approachable form because it’s short and involves topics kids already have experience writing about,” Diodato said, adding that a haiku is a three-lined poem with a five-seven-five syllable pattern that communicates an emotion or experience related to nature.
A participant looks at the Japanese symbols for the seasons during the Haiku in the Street class taught by JoAnne Diodato on July 14. (Clare Becker – The Evening Sun)
“Making poetry fun shows them it’s not just something stuffy to learn about in school.”
It may sound easy, but expressing a thought in 17 syllables is pretty tough, Diodato said as she watched the kids help each other spell words and count syllables.
Once the poems were completed, group members went outside to decorate the library’s sidewalk with colorful chalk renditions of their work.
Eight-year-old Bella Crotty, who attended the workshop with her sister, said even though she doesn’t normally like poetry, the lesson was fun because she got to write her poem outside with chalk. Each line of her haiku, which was written about her favorite summer shoes, was in a different neon color and decorated with hearts.
Logan Reed was also excited to share his work with library-goers, commenting on how nice the sidewalk looks now with the group’s decorations. It gives people something to enjoy on their way to check out books, the seven-year-old said as he chalked out his haiku about reading.
Am I a Writer? You Bet!
No doubt about it, guilty as charged! 🙂
http://thoughtcatalog.com/nico-lang/2013/01/25-signs-youre-a-writer/
My Newest Workshop Offering!
New U.S. Poet Laureate
via:
Stacia M. Fleegal
York Daily Record multiplatform journalist
Charles Wright, a native of Tennessee, author of 24 collections of poetry and winner of a National Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award and a Bollingen Prize, has been appointed the next poet laureate of the United States.
According to The Washington Post, “In an advance copy of Thursday’s announcement, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said, ‘Charles Wright is a master of the meditative, image-driven lyric. Wright’s body of work combines a Southern sensibility with an allusive expansiveness, for moments of singular musicality.’”
Learn more about Charles Wright by visiting The Poetry Foundation, or by picking up a copy of one of his books. The author himself, in the Post’s story, recommends 1984′s “The Other Side of the River” and his most recently published book, “Caribou.”
Maya Angelou Passes
Today I am too sad for words, too sad to write anything poetically. Maya Angelou not only inspired so many of us, her words were some of the most powerful and moving things I have ever heard or read. We all lament her passing, and we all strive to be half the poet she was.
“Listen to yourself, and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God”—Maya Angelou’s final message
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/28/us/maya-angelou-obit/