Yes

Yes

She practiced, in the mirror, saying "no" - 
An easy word; it should be simpler than this.
But she was taught from childhood, "Say yes,"
Lest disobedience be dealt a blow.

"No!" she longed to shout, but "yes" was safer
Lest his anger seek her as its target.
Words of hate and love their mingled argot,
Obedient, she, and none could save her.

She set aside her plans and fondest dreams
And learned to meet each expectation
Daily fearing loss his affection
She learned in time to smile, stifling screams.

Stripped bare of personality, she sighs
And entertains herself with little lies.

— Holly Jahangiri

Today’s Poet

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

– a Soviet and Russian poet whose Nobel-nominated poem, “Babi Yar” denounced the revisionist history of the Soviets and the still rampant anti-Semitism that existed. It was set to music by Shostakovich, and you can listen to it below. Read more here.

April is National Poetry Month. This year marks its 27th year. NaPoWriMo – 30 days of writing poems – is poets’ answer to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

This coincides with the A to Z Blogging Challenge, now celebrating its 13th anniversary. Some participants choose a theme; others wing it. Doesn’t matter! The real challenge is to build a practice of writing daily. I think I stuck with it…once. You can see the list of participants – I’m sure they’d love it if you’d visit and comment on their blogs.

This month, my goal is to:

1. Write a poem a day and share it – uncurated – here; and
2. Highlight some poets you may be unfamiliar with.

I encourage you to click the links to read about them and their work. I plan to choose a diverse array of classical and contemporary poets – indigenous poets, Black poets, women poets, LGBTQ poets – that challenge us to see the world differently while also tapping into universal themes and emotions.

Remember, too, that comments and conversation are always welcome here. (Spammers, on the other hand, will be tossed into the moat or mocked, so before you leave an irrelevant comment or drop a link, consider that it’s fair game!)