UNM celebrated the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month on Wednesday with the UNM English Department hosting the third annual Favorite Poem Project reading at Zimmerman Library.
The Favorite Poem Project was founded in 1997 by Robert
Pinsky, the 39th poet laureate of the
National Poetry Month is a worldwide literary celebration for which men, women and children of all ages share their passion for poetry and its influence.
Daniel Berger, a creative writing graduate student, said National Poetry Month is a time for people to come together to share what poetry means to them.
“Poetry is older than writing itself. Its roots were to pass on stories and histories. In a way, that’s still being done, but via the written, which I think is also important to be able to chronicle events,” he said. “Like an homage to the memorable and what should be remembered for generations to come, be it events, places or even people that have had a personal impact on a poet’s life.”
For the last three years, Luci Tapahonso, a creative writing professor and the first Navajo Nation poet laureate, has organized UNM’s reading in honor of the project. She said she has made it a tradition at every school she’s taught at to host a Favorite Poem Project reading during National Poetry Month.
“I celebrate poetry all the time, but it’s nice to have one month designated to it and to be able to go to organized events that celebrate poetry,” she said. “It’s something that I love, and luckily almost everyone I’ve asked has responded.”
Tapahonso said she puts on these readings by simply reaching out to a diverse group of poetry lovers and asking them to come read their favorite poems to an audience.
“I want to show that everybody likes poetry. It’s not just poets that are reading poems to each other,” she said. “I hope it makes [listeners] reflect on the poems they like as well as poems they haven’t already heard before.”
One person Tapahonso asked to read at the event was Finnie Coleman, an English professor at UNM.
Coleman said National Poetry Month is important to him because the contributions of poetry are taken for granted.
“When we look back on some of the greatest leaders, say, of the 20th century, we think about people like Dr. King or civil rights leaders,” he said. “Almost all of them had this poetic spirit. Poetry isn’t just about rhyming and verse. It’s about saying truths that other people have very difficult times articulating. That’s the power of poetry.”
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Coleman said he felt this importance could be seen in the prominence of Wednesday night’s event.
“To have [Tapahonso] who is literally at the pinnacle of her art, one of the most respected poets in our country, inviting other people to read their favorite poems says a great deal about this event, says a great deal about her [and] says a great deal about the possibility that we have here at the University of New Mexico,” he said.
Tapahonso said she considered the event a successful farewell to the University; it was the last event she organized before her retirement at the end of the semester.
“It’s good for me. I just want to write now,” she said.
Skylar Griego is a culture reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @TDLBooks.
