Literative

Literative is celebrating the official start of National Poetry Month, the 30th anniversary celebration of poetry's influence on our daily lives. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste-Land both take place in April, as does William Shakespeare's birthday. But April 1st is also April Fool’s Day, so today we'll read some poetry that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Or perhaps, like the fools in Shakespeare’s comedies, these poems mix some shrewd observations into their silliness. Resources:Academy of American Poets. National Poetry Month 30th Anniversary.  https://poets.org/national-poetry-month-30th-anniversaryByron, George Gordon, Lord. “When a man hath no freedom.” https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/stanzas/Guiterman, Arthur. “On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1930/03/22/on-the-vanity-of-earthly-greatnessNash, Ogden. “A Word to Husbands.” https://www.poetry.com/poem/54402/a-word-to-husbandsParker, Dorothy. “One Perfect Rose.” https://poets.org/poem/one-perfect-rose

April is National Poetry Month, and today we're discussing poems that help us understand, manage, and recover from anxiety dreams. We'll compare Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream within a Dream" and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Pains of Sleep" to help us distinguish an anxiety dream from a nightmare. We'll use the opening lines of Endymion by John Keats to explore a strategy for restoring calm after a stressful experience, and we'll end with Susan Coolidge's advice in "New Every Morning" for making each day a new beginning, even after a bad night. Wishing you all a Happy National Poetry Month, and sweet dreams!Image:"The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli, 1781. Resources:Cleveland Clinic. “Anxiety Dreams: Why We Have Them and How to Stop Them.” 23 October 2025.Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.  “The Pains of Sleep.”Coolidge, Susan. “New Every Morning.”Keats, John. Endymion. Poe, Edgar Allan. “A Dream within a Dream.” Women’s March. “Protest Safety Training Series: Situational Awareness.” 

Valentine's Day is stressful. It demands big public gestures and celebrates romance while ignoring other kinds of love. But not here at Literative. Today we’ll read several poems that explore the complexity of love, all kinds of love, and we'll make Valentine’s Day safe for introverts and single people.ResourcesElizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese.Robert Hayden, “Those Winter Sundays.”Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese." Marge Piercy, “To Be of Use.”

Today we continue our Normal Plus series with Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and the morning pages, a powerful tool for clearing your mind, outrunning your inner Censor, and unblocking your creativity.ResourcesJulia Cameron, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher CreativityJulia Cameron LiveTara Mohr, Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead Poetry Foundation, "On Ntozake Shange: 'She Did Not Sound Like Anybody Else, Ever'Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Faculty Success ProgramJen Sincero, You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome LifeJ.D. Edwin and Joe Bunting, "Write or Die: A Replacement for the Tool that Conquers Procrastination?The Write Practice, Write or Else Tool

Today we remember Renee Nicole Good through poetry: her own award-winning poem from 2020 and new poems by Cornelius Eady and Amanda Gorman.Renee Nicole GoodPoem: "On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs"About Renee Nicole Good: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/we-had-whistles-they-had-guns-says-wife-of-minnesota-woman-killed-by-ice-agentCornelius EadyPoem: "Renee Nicole Good is Murdered"About Cornelius Eady: https://poets.org/poet/cornelius-eadyAbout Cave Canem: https://www.nationalbook.org/people/cave-canem/#fullBioAmanda GormanPoem: "For Renee Nicole Good, Killed by I.C.E. on Jan. 7, 2026"About Amanda Gorman: https://poets.org/poet/amanda-gormanWebsite: https://www.theamandagorman.com/Audre LordeEssay: "Poetry is Not a Luxury"About Audre Lorde: https://poets.org/poet/audre-lorde

Welcome to 2026 and Season 2 of Literative! We begin the new year by reading Joy Harjo's "For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet," a poem about loss and restoration, about wandering and welcome. Joy Harjo reminds us to treat our spirit like a beloved child and celebrate its recovery by helping those still searching. Be sure to join us in January for our New Year’s series, “Normal Plus.” We'll begin with a powerful tool for identifying and removing creator's block, courtesy of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.Links for Joy HarjoPoem: For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human FeetCollection: Conflict Resolution for Holy BeingsWebsite: https://www.joyharjo.com/Photo credit: Karen KuehnAdditional ResourceThe Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32, KJV)

In the first season of Literative, we learned that we need to make some space for inspiration and serendipity. In Season 2, our motto for January is "Normal Plus," borrowed from Sophie Kinsella's novel What Does It Feel Like? This thinly fictionalized novel recounts Kinsella's own battle with brain cancer; instead of a bucket list, the heroine adopts a strategy of "normal plus," upgrading her ordinary routine to include more small pleasures. We'll do the same in the New Year, taking lessons for small changes from our reading list.Resources:Adachi, Kendra. The Lazy Genius Way.Burkeman, Oliver. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.Kinsella, Sophie. What Does It Feel Like?“Obituary: Sophie Kinsella,” JoJo Moyes, The Guardian (11 Dec. 2025). 

Happy birthday, Jane Austen! We're celebrating with a field trip to Winchester Cathedral, where Austen is buried, and Jane Austen's House in Chawton, where she spent the last years of her life. Resources:Jane Austen's House, Chawton, UKSmart, Stephanie. The House of Embroidered PaperWinchester Cathedral, Winchester, UKWoolf, Virginia. "Jane Austen." Worsley, Lucy. Jane Austen at Home: A Biography (2017)Wykeham Arms, Winchester, UK