How I Spent National Poetry Month

April was a pretty big month for me. It was the first time that I was able to celebrate National Poetry Month as a published poet. It was also the month I found platforms that could benefit me and started promoting myself to a wider audience. I was able to go on a podcast and read one of my poems from my books and then, just a few weeks later, go on a radio show and read two more. I found out about both through a Facebook group for Black authors where a few members were looking for poets to feature on their shows. I took that opportunity to put my name out there hoping one day it would pay off and it did!

The first show I went on was the Angela Ray Show. It was my first appearance being on anything, so while I was really excited, I was pretty apprehensive about it. I didn’t want to say anything weird or look crazy. After being virtually backstage with Ms. Angela Ray who gave me the rundown of how the show would go, I was able to calm down a little bit. Once the show started, I was able to relax and act more like myself. I read my poem, “Peace Will Never Find Me,” from my book Without Purpose, I Have No Peace and she asked me a few questions. The interview with her was my first time sharing those pieces of my life with someone else and surprisingly, I enjoyed it a lot.

The second show I was on that month was a radio show on WHPR FM 88.1 by Shelly Echols. The

the show promotes writing for young children by inviting writers to the show who had aspirations at a young age to do so and are pursuing their dreams. My appearance on the show was at almost five in the afternoon, so I was once again sitting in my anxiousness all day before I called into it. About 15 to 30 minutes before I was supposed to air in, I checked in on the live stream so I would be aware of when it was my turn to call in. I read my poem “The Woman Waiting On Me” from my first book Without Purpose, I Have No Peace, and right after that I read another poem, “Around The World” from my newest book Love Me, Love Me Not. After the second reading, things were going far better than I thought they would but even I was surprised when Ms. Echols asked to read one of my poems. She read, “Forever Doesn’t Always Last,” from Love Me, Love Me Not and after hearing her recite it, I felt an overwhelming joy that someone took the time to find a piece of work that I’d written and read it to me. Having another person who genuinely likes the poetry that you’ve written will always feel good. Outside of the readings, I was also able to discuss why I decided to go with self-publishing as opposed to the traditional route because I wanted to see if I could do it myself and didn’t want to have to face the potential rejection of me or my ideas.

Lastly, I did another thing in April to help me celebrate National Poetry Month by buying a poetry prompt book I found on Amazon. I figured it would help me expand my creativity by introducing me to hundreds of topics and helping me write other forms of poetry like haikus, sonnets, and more. I wanted to take this time going forward to challenge myself in my writing, especially with poetry, since that is my first love and what’s gotten me back into writing. April was a pretty active month and I plan to be even more active as time goes on.