Exploring poetry

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“A poem can be very small. Even two words, placed together, can open up a world, and in this opening is the poem.”
– Erin Moure

No, I’m not a poet myself. I am devoted to reading poetry every day, I marvel at where poetry can be found in the everyday, I love what even two words perfectly placed together can open up, I revere what accomplished and gifted poets are able to evoke and achieve … and I’d like, in my small way, to give this perhaps underappreciated and misunderstood art form as much sunlight and air and attention as I can.

“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”
– Percy Bysshe Shelley

I do that in a few different ways, here and on Twitter.

#todayspoem
Starting concertedly in late 2011, poetry lovers on Twitter agreed to start using the #todayspoem hashtag to share daily a tweetable excerpt from and information about poems they’ve taken a few minutes out of their day to read, reflect on and savour. Check in with the #todayspoem hashtag at any time and you’ll be astonished at the range and variety of works and excerpts provided by contributors from around the world. The #todayspoem practice has also spawned a vibrant Pinterest board.

Small acts of poetry
Here are fun, goofy, modest but still potent ways with which you can share the power of poetry.

Where to find Canadian poetry online
This collection of links to online publications with a mandate to publish new work by Canadian poets is offered as a way to give people a starting point to explore and discover poetry created and published by Canadians.

Poetry reviews
I do review poetry as well as literary fiction and non-fiction.

“You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.”
– Mario Cuomo

“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
Emily Dickinson

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