April showers, as they say, bring May flowers, and we’ll be very glad to see them this year! But what else does April bring? It’s National Poetry Month, and there are so many ways to celebrate poetry!

Get to know Philadelphia’s current Poet Laureates, including the award-winning poet and scholar Airea D. Matthews and Youth Poet Laureate Andre'a Rhoads. You can also stop by the Philadelphia City Institute to add your own original line to The Never-Ending Poem.

Try your hand at an online poetry writing workshop! Experience Sound and Silence led by writer Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela, or Encontrar Nuestra Voz, an invitation to find your voice with Carlos José Pérez Sámano. Both events are open to all and part of the celebration of this year’s One Book, One Philadelphia selection, My Broken Language, by Quiara Alegría Hudes.

Check out poetry-themed book lists One Book 2021 and New Poetry Ebooks for titles available in our catalog. Visit our blog for even more poetic reading suggestions from the Free Library.

Explore the beauty of language each day in April when you sign up for Every Day is a Poem! A part of the Free Library’s Virtual Spring Reading Challenge and Activity Adventure, this month-long poetry fest is open to people of all ages and abilities. Discover new poems and experiment with poetic forms. Create new poetry out of old or find poems in plain sight. Embody a poem through performance or express its meaning in art.

However you choose to celebrate the month, remember that poetry is for you! Whatever your mother tongue, everyone can speak the language of the heart.