Close encounters of the verse kind

No fooling — today marks the first day of April, a month also known as National Poetry Month.

Established in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month was created to highlight the work of American poets, encourage the reading of poems, bring more poetry into classrooms and to encourage increased support for poets and poetry.

All events listed are free and open to the public.

Spring Poetry Festival

It is no coincidence that Michigan’s only poetry center, The RCAH Center for Poetry at Michigan State University, presents its Spring Poetry Festival this month. Featuring readings, informal conversation and workshop opportunities with nationally and internationally renowned poets, the Spring Poetry Festival is the highlight of the center’s yearround activities.

Lansing’s own Dennis Hinrichsen opens the festival today. His most recent works are “Skin Music,” co-winner of the 2014 Michael Waters Poetry Prize from Southern Indiana Review Press, and “Electrocution: A Partial History,” winner of the Rachel Wetzsteon Chapbook Prize from Map Literary: A Journal of Contemporary Writing and Art.

Next up is Terry Blackhawk, founder and director of Detroit’s InsideOut Literary Arts Project, on April 15. Blackhawk recieved the 2010 Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize from Nimrod International for her poem, "Chambered Nautilus, with Tinnitus and Linden." Her latest poetry collection is “The Light Between.” In an informal conversation, “Poetry’s Reach and Outreach,” Blackhawk will discuss her work at InsideOut and how it uses poetry as a tool for learning and empowerment for youth.

Closing out this year’s festival on April 22 is Detroit native and MSU alumna Carolyn Forché. Renowned as a “poet of witness,” Forché’s first poetry collection, “Gathering The Tribes,” won the 1976 Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. In 1977, she traveled to Spain to translate the work of exiled Salvadoran poet Claribel Alegría. Upon her return, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship which enabled her to travel to El Salvador, where she worked as a human rights advocate. Her second book, “The Country Between Us,” received the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay di Castagnola Award and was also the Lamont Selection of the Academy of American Poets.

More poetry in the area

MSU Associate Professor Laura Apol’s newest book of poetry, “Requiem, Rwanda,” came out in February. Drawn from her work in Rwanda using writing to facilitate healing among survivors of the 1994 genocide, the collection closes with the essay, “Writing as Witness.” A release party will be Tuesday at Dublin Square Irish Pub in East Lansing.

As part of MSU’s Science Festival on April 18, Linnea Jimison, assistant director of the RCAH Center for Poetry, will lead a “haiku hike” through the campus. Participants will note their observations and create a haiku.

The oldest poetry organization in the Lansing area is the Lansing Poetry Club, established in 1938. It meets on the third Sunday of every month (April 19 this month) at Old Town’s MICA Gallery. Meetings include writing, discussion and sharing of poetry, as well as an open mic.

The third annual East Lansing Poetry Attack, which originating as a “guerrilla art” act in 2013, will be April 26 outside the East Lansing Public Library. Area poets submitted up to two poems each last month. These poems will be displayed in the trees during an event that will also include live music and readings.

For something a little different, check out MSU College of Music’s event "Musique 21: This is Love." This choral performance is based in part on the poetry of Frederico García Lorca, and includes poems in both Spanish and English.

Finally, National Poem in Your Pocket day is April 30, a day when participants are encouraged to select and carry a poem to share. In observance of the day, the Old Town Poetry Series will host Poem in Your Pocket Open Mic on April 28 at Dublin Square Irish Pub.

Laurie Hollinger is a Lansing-based writer and poet, and a member of RCAH Center for Poetry’s community council. Contact her at lauriehollinger@att.net.

Spring Poetry Festival

(all events in Snyder-Phillips Hall)

Dennis Hinrichsen

April 1 3 p.m. conversation: "Teaching and the Mind of the Poet: Moving from Incandescence to Laser," C204 Snyder Hall 7 p.m. reading, RCAH Theater

Terry Blackhawk

April 15 3 p.m. conversation: "Poetry’s Reach and

Outreach," C204 Snyder Hall 7 p.m. reading, RCAH Theater

Carolyn Forché

April 22 7 p.m. reading, RCAH Theater April 23 3 p.m. conversation: "The

Poet in the World: Witness in the English Tradition," MSU

Library W449 poetry.rcah.msu.edu

Other poetry

events:

“Requiem, Rwanda”

Book release party

7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7 Dublin Square Irish Pub 327 Abbot Road, East Lansing

Haiku Hike

(part of MSU Science Festival) 1 P.M. Saturday, April 18 Room 109, Chemistry Building MSU Campus 578 S. Shaw Lane, East Lansing sciencefestival.msu.edu

Lansing Poetry Club

2:30-4:30 P.M. Sunday, April 19 MICA Gallery 1210 Turner Street, Lansing sites.google.com/site/ lansingpoetryclub

Poetry Attack

1 P.M.-4 P.M. Sunday, April 26 East Lansing Public Library 950 Abbot Road, East Lansing poetryattack.com

Musique 21: This is Love.

7:30 P.M. Monday, April 27 Fairchild Theatre MSU Campus 542 Auditorium Road, East Lansing

Poem in Your Pocket Open Mic

7:30 P.M. Tuesday, April 28 Dublin Square Irish Pub 327 Abbot Road, East

Lansing All events are free and open to the public