The Ukiah Library will be hosting four events for teens & adults in April during National Poetry Month: Book Spine Poetry (teens) will be on Wednesday, April 6 from 2 to 5 p.m.; Poetry Magnets (teens) on Wednesday, April 13, from 2 to 5 p.m.; Making Found Poems (teens) on Wednesday, April 20 from 2 to 5 p.m.; Chapbook Workshop (Adults & Teens) on Saturday, April 30 from 2 to 4 p.m. National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K-12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives. The goals of National Poetry Month are to highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets,encourage the reading of poems, assist teachers in bringing poetry into their classrooms, increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media, encourage increased publication and distribution of poetry books, and encourage support for poets and poetry. Book Spine Poetry for teens will create visual poems by stacking books so that their spines are visible & construct poems. Poetry Magnets will allow participants to make their own magnetic poetry kits to take home. Registration is required. Making Found Poems is for teens to discover how to make poems from a variety of sources, including dictionaries, newspapers, rocks, the mind, & music. Teens will be exploring language & syntax through play, as well as cut & paste fragments from other poems. Poetry Chapbook Workshop will take poems adults and teens have written and assemble them into a chapbook! Chapbooks have a long history of communicating impelling messages to communities & are often handmade and sold cheaply or given as gifts. Adults & teens are invited to learn how to make poetry chapbooks. This workshop will be taught by Melissa Eleftherion Carr (MLIS, MFA), widely published poet & author of five chapbooks. Registration is required. To register, call or email Melissa Carr. 467-6434 orcarrm@co.mendocino.ca.us.
