April is Poetry Month

I see that declaration everywhere, and I’ve met with other poets gathered to celebrate that acknowledgement.

But why? I don’t recall a month ever being set aside to celebrate fiction or non-fiction work; or romance, historical, fantasy, articles, essays, documentaries and so on. Why poetry? What makes it different?

© 2026 Jerena Tobiasen

I write historical fiction. I’ve spent hours, days, weeks, even months researching historical facts to ensure that my creations are accurate; what clothes my characters wear; how they speak; transportation of the time; maps; infrastructures and so on. I need to make that effort if I want my readers to keep reading my work.

I also write poetry, although not with the same commitment as someone who dedicates their time to selecting that perfect word or crafting that perfect line or stanza. Not like a poet. Because I’d rather be writing a story. I usually write poems when something really moves me. My topics are therefore unpredictable. Take for example, my lament that I no longer take ballroom dance lessons. I wrote this:

EXPERIENCED FOOTWEAR

Abandoned dance shoes in the middle of the polished oak floor, tired.

Golden fabric tops wrinkled and thread-bare from months of stepping, sliding, and gliding,

From moving until rhythms and routines were not-quite perfect.

Soft suede soles caked in grit scraped from the floor with each pressed slide:

Suede embedded in suede,

Residue of other abused shoes.

Suede worn thin from multiple wire-brush strokes.

Abandoned dance shoes strewn in the middle of the dance floor

Alone, wet from sweat and limp from use

While the bare feet that recently occupied them

Pad away in search of a pair of street shoes.

The dedicated poets whom I know write with creative purpose. They are as invested in their work as I am in mine. I’ve observed, however, that they generally write from a different perspective. They write about today, now, in this moment about what they see, how they feel, what they think. In my opinion, they are the artistic recorders of world events, of history in the making. They write with passion and emotion, sharing their opinions, whether requested or not.

While I write about the past hoping to expose it for what it was and cast a spark of interest, my poetic friends write about the world around them, as they see it, in their words: their beautiful, evoking, unforgiving, specific, descriptive words.

Yes, April is Poetry Month! Before the month ends, I encourage you to seek out and read at least one poem, to appreciate the words and phrases that paint a picture of the moment it was written, to feel the rhythm, to step into the emotion.

Celebrate with me. Celebrate our poets! And, while we celebrate the poetry of the present, I’ll continue digging into the past as I edit the latest draft of my current manuscript (aka my soon to be novel King’s Knight).

Happy Spring! Happy Poetry Month!