I write primarily fiction; however, I love poetry and since these are the final days of National Poetry Month, I am going to share with you notes from a fabulous writer's conference I attended, BOOKS ALIVE, sponsored by the Washington Independent Review of Books, an incisive online writing and book review community. This weekend, they honored poet and poetry advocate extraordinaire Grace Cavalieri with their first Lifetime Achievement Award. Upon accepting the award, she gave her top four reasons why poetry still matters (and I may be paraphrasing her, as I quickly took these notes):

-Poetry slows down time. You read slowly and you write slowly

-Poetry preserves the beloved

-Poetry makes us notice the world more

-We are more fully alive when we read and write poetry

This makes me want to write poetry, my secret writing, and to me that is the world.

Does poetry matter to you?

——Caroline