Poems for Hope 2024
Diverse Verse invites young poets in grades 3 through 12 to send us a poem on the theme of hope during Poetry Month 2024. Students may interpret the theme of hope in whatever way they wish:
What does hope mean to you?
How does poetry keep your hope alive?
All participants will receive a printable certificate to honor their time and effort.
Wild Dreamers and A STEAM poem
Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics Poem by Margarita Engle
Interview with Ari Tison
Padma Venkatraman interviews founding Diverse Verse member Ari Tison about her debut novel Saints of the Household
Honoring Juneteenth
Padma Venkatraman Interviews Zetta Elliott about her poem Juneteenth, which appears in her latest poetry collection, Perennial
Love Letters to Poetry
Thank you for joining us for National Poetry Month! Here are all of our 2023 Love Letters to Poetry.
Love Letters to Poetry | Pocketful of Poetry: A Mini Chapbook
In celebration of national poetry month, here's a quick and simple mini chapbook project to try on your own or with your students. It can be created by hand or produced digitally. It's a flexible and fun way to create, to experiment with and to share your work. For the purposes of this lesson, the mini chapbook was digitally designed and produced.
Love Letters to Poetry | “Earth, I Thank You”
How perfect that National Poetry Month in the US is in April, just like Earth Month.
Slow down. Pay attention. Everything is connected.
I chose this poem because it does all that, and more. It’s a potent love note to the earth, and all the good things in it that make poetry.
Love Letters to Poetry | “Ask”
I wrote “Ask” because I know it is not always easy to ask questions. In a class where everyone else seems to know what is being taught and we don’t understand, sometimes we feel embarrassed. We need help but we don’t feel comfortable enough to ask for it. I have felt that way.
Love Letters to Poetry | “Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100”
Marilyn Nelson reads “Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100” by Martín Espada.
Love Letters to Poetry | Reflection on DREAMERS
DREAMERS by Yuyi Morales is a picture book written in verse that I wished I would have had as a young refugee child. Morales's words beautifully portray the layers of complexities immigrants experience as we navigate life in a new country. Even though this is a book written for young children, it shows the realities that many immigrant families struggle with such as loss of home, learning a new language and finding connection in the simplest of things.
Love Letters to Poetry | How to Write a Verse Biography
When you have a thirst
to write a biography in verse
remember, it’s the story,
not the verse.
Love Letters to Poetry | How to Read a Poem
First, read it aloud. Feel the pleasure of the words on your tongue. Let the words fill your body, an instrument that never needs to be tuned.
Take your time.
Love Letters to Poetry | "the earth is a living thing"
My love letter to poetry is also a love letter to the earth.
Love Letters to Poetry | Reflection on OTHER WORDS FOR HOME
I love this novel in verse OTHER WORDS FOR HOME by Jasmine Warga. I was halfway writing UNSETTLED and gave up 1,000,000 tries and this book gave me the final boost I needed to complete my manuscript. It was so heartwarming to see a character wear hijab here and describe it so beautifully.