It’s still April. It’s still National Poetry Month. There’s still poetry, poetry, poetry everywhere. So, I’m still in heaven.

Last week, I attended the Houston’s Favorite Poems event at Brazos Bookstore, one of H-town’s legendary independent bookstores. Houston’s Favorite Poems is an anthology of 185 poems selected by citizens from all walks of life who live all over the city. The reading was emceed by the 2015-2017 Houston Poet Laureate, Robin Davidson, whom I discovered as a featured poet at this year’s AIPF. Several contributors were present to read the poems that were included in the anthology. Before reading, each person shared why the poem they submitted was their favorite, and so my reading list grew just a bit more.

Bonus: I spent much of the evening speaking to Vincent D’Amico, a Robert Frost scholar. I had attended his presentation about Frost he gave at the Poets Northwest meeting in March. After chatting about our shared love of Frost before the anthology reading began, he composed a personalized list of Frost’s poem complete with annotations and insights just for me.

This Saturday, I will attend Poetry at Round Top for the first time. To say I’m excited is an understatement. I had decided quite some time ago that I would attend P@RT this year come hail or high water, but when I saw that one of the featured poets is Naomi Shihab Nye, I couldn’t find my credit card fast enough to register. Not only is she one of those poets who effortlessly reveals the connections between all realities, both personal and universal, she actually read my creative thesis in grad school 12 years ago. Her comments were enthusiastic, thorough, kind, and above all, honest. Although I know she won’t remember my work, I will never forget what she said or how it helped me.

In the meantime, I’ve been participating in the Poem A Day Challenge at the Poetic Asides blog hosted by Robert Lee Brewer from Writer’s Digest as I have since 2014.  I always post my poems for the annual PAD challenge here. I look forward to Brewer’s PAD Challenge every year. Even though the poems are composed fast and posted dirty (and usually a day behind), having to write a poem every day has given me permission to take risks and try things I never have before.

And so, in that spirit, Round Top, here I come!

*Moth image by Scott Baldwin first appeared here. Used with permission.