Wonderful poems from our community are flying in and it’s very exciting! All in all, TWENTY FIVE POETS took part this week and I couldn’t be happier or more grateful.

Thank you to all of you who are tuning in, writing poems, and taking part. I’m so happy you’re here with us.

In today’s video, you’ll hear some beguiling poems from the treasure trove sent in by our community; I introduce you to a wonderful book and share some selections in hopes they”ll spark YOUR poem-making around our theme of CONNECTION; I read one of my newest drafty poems and give you a peek at my messy, but filling-up, Jumping Fox Design journal, and I issue what I hope will be a delicious poetry dare and a spark, too.

You will likely notice me panic about 20 minutes into the video when I realized that I wasn’t wearing the lapel mic and wondered if I’d recorded the entire video without sound. I decided to bring the mic closer and forge ahead anyway, so there’s a distinct sound change at that point. I left this fluster in the video – as well as the sound of Mishy, my cat, coughing – because this whole Poetry Celebration is very much a home-made affair and I am very much a beginner when it comes to tech matters. Please forgive me and know that I’m learning!

1. If you’d like to play, please send one or more poems to me at kate@katechadbourne.com by Friday, 16 April at 5 pm. I’d be so grateful if you could put all of your weekly poems in one email and further, if you could put all of them either in one document (one attachment for me to open) or just pasted into the body of the email. No worries if this is impossible but it saves me a few steps and I appreciate your help. In any case, know that your poems are received with great JOY!

2. Remember that for each week you send one or more poems, you receive an entry into our journal drawing. Four weeks of poems = four entries in the drawing = four times the chance of getting a prize. 🙂

3. Thank you, everyone, who left a comment, gave the video a thumbs up, or subscribed this week. I can’t tell you how wonderfully encouraging this is: I appreciate every bit of it! If you’re moved this week, share the video with a poetry-loving friend, give it a like, subscribe to my channel, and share your thoughts in the comments section. They help everyone and we all gain from them.

My heartfelt thanks to The Academy of American Poets for the magnificent poster you see hanging behind me (Please visit them at https://poets.org/​​), and my continued thanks to Jumping Fox Design for the journal I’m using this month and for the three others waiting to be claimed as prizes!

My heartfelt thanks to YOU, wonderful community. Let’s be POETS this April! Have a great week!