 
 
National Poetry Month was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. As an educator, I normally plan poetry activities during this month, culminating in a class poetry event as well as participation in Poem in Your Pocket Day, taking place this year on Thursday, April 20th.
However, in this pandemic reality we live in, I am unable to do these activities with my students, since all instruction has moved online. What’s more, I don’t have the heart to ask them to do more than what they are doing for their classes, their families and themselves.
Instead, I’ve taken to making a video of myself, reading poetry to them and posting it on the online instructional platform.
Since I was already dressed and wearing makeup, I’ve decided to do something similar on my author blog.
Each day, I will post a video of myself reading a poem which is related to my writing. Or a poem which I simply love. There’s no rhyme or reason to the selections. In a time of anxiety and social separation, we look to art, among other things, to comfort us. As someone much smarter and more talented once said, beauty will save the world. Or at the very least, it can make things a little easier.
So, without further ado…
Today’s featured poem is “Rio Grande de Loíza” by Julia de Burgos, from her collection Song of the Simple Truth (Canción de la verdad sencilla), the first bilingual edition of Julia de Burgos’s complete poems.
PS: I realize today is April 4th, which means I should have done this on April 1st, but CampNaNoWriMo also takes place in April and I’m participating in that as well.
Happy viewing!