National Poetry Month 2023: Try Poetry (Why Not?)

When it comes to discovering (or rediscovering) a love of poetry, there really is no time like the present. The unique despair that is being a human amid rising inequality and a pending climate collapse can be captured by poetry, sure, and also offset by it; the poets, in other words, know what they’re doing. So for this National Poetry Month, our theme is simply Try Poetry (Why Not?).

We’ve selected 19 poets and their collections to feature over the course of the month: asking them how they got into poetry, what their featured poems are about, and their own recommendations for those getting into poetry for the first time or after a long time.

Our upcoming features:

• April 3: El Jones + Abolitionist Intimacies (Roseway Publishing) | feature
• April 4: NShannacappo + Through the Eyes of Asunder (Kegedonce Press) | feature
• April 5: Richard Sanger + Way to Go (Biblioasis) | feature
• April 6: Kate Cayley + Lent (Book*hug Press) | feature
• April 10: Rocco de Giacomo + Casting Out (Guernica Editions) | feature
• April 11: Jacob McArthur Mooney + Frank’s Wing (ECW Press) | feature
• April 12: Catherine McNeil + emily & elspeth (Caitlin Press) | feature
• April 13: Rita Bouvier + a beautiful rebellion (Thistledown Press) | feature
• April 14: Benjamin Dugdale + The Repoetic: After Saint-Pol-Roux (Gordon Hill Press) | feature
• April 17: Amy Ching-Yan Lam + Baby Book (Brick Books) | feature
• April 18: Maggie Burton + Chores (Breakwater Books) | feature
• April 19: Nancy Jo Cullen + Nothing Will Save Your Life (Wolsak & Wynn) | feature
• April 20: Vera Constantineau + Enlightened by Defilement (Latitude 46 Publishing) | feature
• April 21: Sally Ito + Heart’s Hydrography (Turnstone Press) | feature
• April 24: Carolyn Marie Souaid + This Side of Light (Signature Editions) | feature
• April 25: Nisha Patel + Coconut (NeWest Press) | feature
• April 26: A. Light Zachary + More Sure (Arsenal Pulp Press) | feature
• April 27: David Ly + Dream of Me as Water (Palimpsest Press) | feature
• April 28: T. Liem + Slows: Twice (Coach House Books) | feature

To encourage you to try even more poetry, if you buy any of these collections from All Lit Up or from your local indie bookstore*, you’ll be emailed a free digital sampler collection of all of the poems featured. We’re still fine-tuning the collection and you’ll receive it by the end of poetry month.

*To claim your sampler after purchasing from a local indie, please send us proof of payment (e.g. a picture of your receipt) to hello@alllitup.ca with the subject line “Free Try Poetry Collection.”

Looking forward to trying poetry with all of you this April! Let us know your fave poems or collections you decided to check out on socials @alllitupcanada, and happy Poetry Month!