Poetry month was started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, when people around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

What are the goals of National Poetry Month? The goals of National Poetry Month are to:

* Highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets

* Introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry

* Bring poets and poetry to the public in immediate and innovative ways

* Make poetry a more important part of the school curriculum

* Increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media

* Encourage increased publication, distribution, and sales of poetry books

* Increase public and private philanthropic support for poets and poetry

How can I support National Poetry Month? Donations in support of National Poetry Month are much needed and greatly appreciated.   Simply designate your donation for

Chris Dombrowski

National Poetry Month, and you’ll help the Academy support the celebration of poetry in April.

Chris Dombrowski will read his poetry from “By Cold Water” April 8th at 7:00 pm Mountain Time at , 200 N Higgins Ave. Missoula MT for more details visit  Fact and Fiction

Chris Dombrowski’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Bloomsbury Review, Colorado Review, Crazyhorse, Mid-american Review, New Letters, Ninth Letter, Orion, Seneca Review, and other journals, and have been anthologized in Joyful Noise: An Anthology of American Spiritual Poetry (Autumn House, 2006). His awards include the Associated Writing Programs Intro Award, Alligator Juniper’s National Poetry Prize, and a Poetry Fellowship from the University of Montana, where he received his MFA Born in Lansing, MI, Dombrowski works as a river-guide, poet-in-the-schools, and creative writing instructor at the University of Montana in Missoula, where he lives with his family.

Here are a few online poetry links:

* The Academy of American Poets,  the brainpower behind National Poetry Month, offers a poem every day at poets.org (the site also has poems to download to mobile devices).

* Knopf is offering a poem by John Updike to kick off a month of daily poems.

* School Library Journal notes 30 Poets/30 Days, the brainchild of blogger and author Gregory K. Pincus, who’ll share one new poem each day in April via his blog  GottaBook and on Twitter.

* The Poetry Foundation has 30 new films as part of Poetry Everywhere,  a poetry film series. The films will air at pbs.org, poetryfoundation.org, YouTube, and iTunes. One is a poem by St. Louis’ Sally Van Doren.

* The Library of Congress has a site that offers a poem a day for high school students (it’s not just for April).  Poetry Daily offers a poem a day for everyone and Poets & Writers   and DailyLit offer “Masters of Verse.”

Carnations are now known to be the official flower for Mother’s Day in Canada and the United States. The color of the carnation denotes whether the persons Mother is still living (red) and white for someone who has lost their Mother. Many people in North America wear a corsage or boutonierre to show this significance. The history of Mother’s Day is the reason behind the long-standing tradition of carnations being one of the best choices of flowers to incorporate into a Mothers Day flower bouquet.

When looking at how to pick out the best Mother’s Day flower bouquet keep in mind the flower colors and their meanings. Although incorporating some pink (Mother’s undying love) and white (purity of love and good fortune) carnations into a Mother’s Day flower bouquet is very symbolic of its origin, not everyone knows the meanings behind the colors or even types of flowers in floral arrangements.

Carnations are also a good flower to choose and usually much cheaper than roses. Carnations come in many colors. With carnations, sometimes you will see flowers with colors on the tips of the petals. This is achieved by putting the stem of the flower into water colored with food dye. The flower sucks the water up through the stem and the result is uniquely colored petals. Carnations also last a lot longer than most other flowers. If you keep them in water they will last for a couple of weeks,

Let’s start with how not to use carnations: sparsely, as a single flower in a bud vase on a cocktail table or to add bulk to a bouquet of more costly flowers like roses. If you use carnations as an afterthought, that is exactly how they will appear. The way to reclaim the carnation as a flower worthy of being used is to use them in masses. Don’t try to sneak them in there and hope nobody will notice them; make the carnations front and center in a display that showcases their great ruffly texture.

The texture of carnations is very interesting, and it will look the most impressive in displays that feature large amounts of carnations packed tightly together. Tightly bunched carnations or mini carnations can be used to create all sorts of geometric and bold floral arrangements.

However, if you know your Mother loves particular flowers, you should try to incorporate as many of those in to your Mothers Day flower bouquet as possible. Knowing your mother, her preferences, and what makes her smile will make it so much easier to select your flowers. So when asking, “How do I pick out the right Mother’s Day bouquet”, ask yourself this, what are my mother’s preferences in flowers, what are her favorite colors, and most of all, choose the flowers with love. Through love you can never go wrong with any Mother’s Day Flower bouquet.

Watching from the sidelines
as my Mother put on her makeup
I knew she was the most beautiful
Mother in the world.

Watching from the sidelines
as my Mother baked a cake
I knew she was the best
Cook in the world.

Watching from the sidelines
as my Mother tended my cut knee
I knew she was the best
Nurse in the world.

Watching from the sidelines
as my Mother served her guests
I knew she was the best
Hostess in the world.

Watching from the sidelines
as my Mother lived her life
I knew she was the best
Friend in the world.

Watching from the sidelines
as my Mother left this life
I knew she was the best
In my life – And I miss her.

Poetry Mom