Celebrating National Poetry Month: The Joy of Poetry

This year for National Poetry Month, we’ve already shared some beautiful, fun, and free materials— as well as an inspiring invitation. If you haven’t yet picked up your free gifts and a chance to get published, hop on over to:

1. Casual: A Little Book of Jeans Poems & Photos (free gift!)

2. Coloring Page Poems (free coloring book!)

3. Every Day Sketches (a chance to get your poems or pictures published)

But? In addition to these materials, we also have an exciting surprise—a brand new book that will make you laugh, get you teary-eyed, and show you a deep and sometimes whimsical way to keep, save & make your life with poems.

Happy National Poetry Month, friends! And here’s wishing you poetry for life.

About The Joy of Poetry

Part memoir, part humorous and poignant defense of poetry, this is a book that shows you what it is to live a life with poems at your side (and maybe in your Topo Chico®).

Megan Willome’s story is one you won’t want to put down; meanwhile, her uncanny ability to reveal the why’s and how’s of poetry keeps calling—to even the biggest poetry doubter. If you already enjoy poetry, her story and her wisdom and her ways will invite you to go deeper, with novel ideas on how to engage with poems.

A great National Poetry Month title for retreats, poets & writers’ groups, and book clubs. Or, if you’re a teacher who has ever been asked, “Why poetry?”, this book is the ready answer you’ve been needing.

Includes extras like how to keep a poetry journal (this is not just about putting poems in a journal), how to be a poetry buddy, and how to take a poetry dare. Perfect for National Poetry Month.

BUY THE JOY OF POETRY NOW

or see a sample

Words from Early Reviewers

*****

Wow.

I had NO idea that a book about poetry would touch my heart so deeply, but the truth is that this review is actually tough for me to write because I struggle to find words to explain the huge (positive) impact Megan’s story had on my life. I’ll give it a shot, though!

I’m now setting aside a few minutes (a few times a week, it will eventually be every day!) to read a poem aloud then journal. The first time I tried it I was highly skeptical but DANG. Who knew Robert Frost’s writing would be so much more relevant when spoken aloud? On a practical (but extremely important note), Megan’s writing is top-notch. It’s beautiful, intelligent and eminently down to earth. After reading The Joy of Poetry, I see that I shouldn’t spend so much time trying to avoid pain in life (it’s gonna happen no matter what I do). Instead of running away from the bad stuff, I want to use Art to heal and grow. Trust me, guys. This book is amazing.

—Jennifer Reck

*****

As a result of reading Megan Willome’s The Joy of Poetry, I …

… started collecting poems again, the way Megan keeps a poetry scrapbook.

… read Leo Lionni’s picture book Frederick, which is about a poet-mouse.

… lifted my head (when I read that Megan’s mother drew the San Juan mountain range) and looked out the huge picture windows of my in-laws’ dining room where I happened to be reading at the time, straight at a wide view of the San Juan mountain range.

… looked for more poems by Stuart Kestenbaum. (WOW.)

… put a John Green novel on hold at the library.

… listened to a Roseanne Cash song.

… wrote a poem based on part of the book.

… tried writing a poem with hidden rhymes. (“Enjambment hides rhymes so
the poem doesn’t sound like a greeting card.”)

… read Lemony Snicket’s article, “All Good Slides Are Slippery, ” a children’s poetry portfolio. I delight in reading anything by Lemony Snicket anyway.

… came across poems already familiar and loved (by Laura Boggess, William Wordsworth, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Christina Rossetti).

… learned that Megan’s favorite pencil is the Papermate Sharpwriter. Then I did an online search to see what it looked like.

… realized I didn’t need anyone’s permission to dislike or not understand a poem.

… searched “bluebonnets” online to see what they looked like (I don’t know the names of flowers) and learned they are the same genus as my favorite Colorado wildflowers.

… decided to buy the book for a friend.

… had a greater appetite for poetry.

The Joy of Poetry. Aptly titled, isn’t it?

—Monica Sharman, editor and writer