Mondays are for Heirlooms, poems in the public domain to discover, reread and/or share.

Wednesdays are In Bloom. With permission, we’ll spotlight one poem (or a few lines from a poem) that was posted to the Community Garden, nominated by you. To nominate, reply to a poem in the chat with ‘In Bloom’.

Continue to share your poems or your favorites in the Open Chat for subscribers (also known as the Community Garden). When sharing other people’s poems, please post a link to where the full poem can be read. In the Community Garden, read a few, heart one or two.

Have a great week!

--PC

This week’s Heirloom:

Hope*
by Emily Dickinson (published 1891)

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

*Hope is poem #6, located in the first section, Section I of “Life,” poem VI.

This excerpt is from an article that originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

The full article is here.

By Mable Buchanan Palmer | April 8, 2025

Five ways to celebrate National Poetry Month

Here are a few simple ways you can activate your brain’s built-in language appreciation system this month.

1. Cultivate a habit of reading! There is a reason movements like the Poetry in Motion initiative (which has brightened NYC subways with 200-plus poems) and U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón’s You Are Here project (which installs poetry-themed public art in national parks) work: Poetry often doesn’t require a huge time investment.

That said, reading poetry can feel like swimming against Old Faithful if you have spent years building an aversion to it. Consider what you may need to deconstruct. Remember you are free to enjoy poetry however you like.

Consider reading poems out loud. ...The sound of a poem can create the same satisfaction as a resolved musical phrase (thanks, mesolimbic striatal system). You can memorize a stanza, like a mantra, if you like—or you can take the advice of former poet laureate Billy Collins in “Introduction to Poetry” and “waterski / across the surface” instead of subjecting yourself to undue pressure.

There are several free poetry e-letters, like Poem-a-Day, the newsletter of the Poetry Foundation, or Poem of the Week from Split This Rock. These sites also have archives you can browse, or you could try podcasts like The Slowdown or On Being if you want to hear a quick verse on your commute. It’s a charcuterie board out there, so sample!

2. Don’t “poet” alone. Consider joining an online community, or see if you can work some verse into a book club or professional growth circle. You may even find your poetry community at home! If you have children, consider reading poetry with them (young ones may enjoy Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky).

Lean into the styles your group enjoys—and rest assured that while some sources tout the superior aesthetics or therapeutics of “classic” poems, this hasn’t been supported by evidence.

Consider exchanging poems with loved ones. Emily Dickinson was known, even, for sending poems to friends (and writing them on chocolate wrappers: my kind of friend). Do whatever takes the pressure off—a circle of friends exchanging chocolate-wrapper poems Secret Santa–style could offer more joy and connection than you might expect.

3. Engage with live poetry. Consider looking for open mics in your area, and check with your local library or bookstore to see if they offer programming for Poetry Month. After April is over, keep an eye out for readings from local authors and poets.

Support youth in your life who may be participating in Poetry Out Loud by offering to hear their poem and watching the national finals in early May. You can also attend virtual open mics or listen to spoken word poetry on YouTube.

No matter how you get involved this month, there is something powerful and special in reading and celebrating the work of contemporary writers (as the #TeachLivingPoets movement stresses) and in hearing poets read their own work out loud.

4. Learn something new. See if there’s one new thing you can discover this month about the craft or history of poetry.

Perhaps you’d be interested in brushing up on figurative language or exploring what common phrases you use that come from poetry. Maybe you’d be interested to learn about poets who have written in response to one another and why—or maybe you’d enjoy checking out a form that is new to you, like the prose poem or lyric essay.

There is an abundance of learning materials online from YouTube and organizations like Poetry in America, Coursera, and Masterclass, as well as special offerings for April.

5. Give yourself permission to play! Try a few writing exercises or have fun imitating a poem you enjoy... Consider exploring sound, rhythm, and metaphor in ways you haven’t before or haven’t experimented with in a while.

Link to the full, original post How Poetry Changes You and Your Brain

This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.