Why a Poet is Against National Poetry Month "As Such"

For a child, poetry is everywhere, any place, language is just another toy. But for those of us who are grownup, National Poetry Month wakes us up again to poets and their poems. That's why National Poetry Month exists.

Now I’m ready to segue to poet Charles Bernstein and his call for an Anti-Poetry Month.

Although you've read Shakespeare and Gwendolyn Brooks, you may be wondering about this Charles Bernstein. So was I so I went surfing to the Academy of American Poets website  www.poets.org to find out. That’s a site featuring well- established poets. Even though Bernstein delights in roasting the poetry establishment, I found him listed. I could link to four of his poems (including a moving poem-essay written shortly after September 11, ) read over his biog and even see what he looks like. Unsurprisingly, for his critical glance at National Poetry Month you have to surf to http://plagiarist.com/articles/42.

Here’s part of what Bernstein says:

"As an alternative to National Poetry Month, I propose that we have an International Anti-Poetry month. As part of the activities, all verse in public places will be covered over—from the Statue of Liberty to the friezes on many of our government buildings. Poetry will be removed from radio and TV (just as it is during the other eleven months of the year). Parents will be asked not to read Mother Goose and other rimes to their children but only ... fiction.