April is
National Poetry Month! Designated by the
The Academy of American Poets, it is a time "when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture."
In the spirit of celebrating the vitality of poetic language, I offer you cartoonist
Lynda Barry, creator of Ernie Pook's Comeek featuring the wonderfully candid child characters, Maybonne and Marlys--among others. (Check out The Greatest of Marlys, listed in Time Magazine's Top Ten Graphic Novels.) Barry also happens to be a painter, playwright, editor, commentator and teacher! Watch an 8-minute
Poetry Foundation video of her comedic discussion
HERE, including an examination of the cadence in Emily Dickinson's poetry, which Barry sings to both Gerschwinn and "The Girl from Ipanema"!
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| Lynda Barry |
I didn't intend to blog about poetry at all; I didn't even know there was a month devoted to it. But the good 'ole worldwideweb led me delightfully astray after I saw this really cool brochure from The Writers Institute at Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College. They've got a bunch of great 3 and 4-day ($250) workshop offerings May 4-7 from 9 a.m.-noon, including "Writing the Unthinkable" with Lynda Barry. A little research on her website, Marlys Magazine, and I learned she can sing too!
Here's the online class description, written by Barry herself, I suspect. I love how she levels the playing field:
