April Is National Poetry Month

A Reflection and a Revision

Happy National Poetry Month!

The idea behind National Poetry Month—every April since 1996—is awareness and celebration of the poetic form. In this way, it shares some similarities with Black History Month and Women’s History Month, which are also focused on awareness and celebration. (Contrary to what some may believe, diversity is absolutely essential to a democracy.)

For many years, whenever people asked me what kind of writing I did, I’d say, “I’m a poet.” I dabbled in fiction, but I wrote poetry.

I no longer identify myself as a poet. Now when people ask, I say, “I write flash and microfiction.” But so immersed am I in this very short form that I’m sometimes surprised when the response is, “What’s flash fiction?” Incidentally, there’s a National Flash Fiction Day (NFFD) for promoting awareness and celebrating the flash form, too. But even though NFFD is celebrated by flash writers worldwide, it’s technically a UK festivity. And it’s essentially just one day.

And it’s not until June.

So. Poetry.

I started writing poetry in earnest in the mid-1990s and didn’t stop until around 2015 or 2016, when I turned my attention fully to fiction (but not flash yet!). I’ve written hundreds of poems, have notebooks and journals full.

But only a handful of my poems have ever been published.

In 2008, my poem “Bukowski” (yes, about Charles Bukowski, one of my earliest poetic influences) won a contest sponsored by the Beat Museum in San Francisco.

In 2009, another poem, “corduroys”—which I share below—earned an honorable mention in another contest.

I’ve turned a few of my unpublished poems into stories, either flash or longer short stories, and every once in a while, I look through my poems for story ideas; I’m rarely disappointed—ideas abound!

Though they aren’t very visible here, the red corduroys I’m wearing in this photo (circa 1982) are the corduroys that inspired my poem!

To kick off National Poetry Month, I decided I’d share “corduroys,” written in early 2009. I had to dig it out of my filing cabinet, as it’s no longer available online.

But in looking at this poem 16 years later, I saw things I wanted to change.

So that’s what I’ve done. The edits are fairly minor, didn’t take me long, but I’m definitely more satisfied with the 2025 version. But you can let me know which version you like!

Reflection/Revision

Below, first, is the 2009 version that earned an honorable mention.

"corduroys"

I asked for corduroys,
a simple request for
an eight-year-old,
but still I expected a firm no
as if I had asked for an
ever-popular Esprit sweatshirt.
But I wanted corduroys.

More than anything
I wanted to hear the
swish-swish of my thighs
saying hello to one another
in the school library when
everybody was supposed to be quiet.

I imagined that Ms. Sorrentino
would look up over the rims
of her glasses and, with just a look,
she would tell my thighs to be quiet.
But she wouldn't say it.

She'd say, instead,
"say hi to your mom for me,"
and I would nod, too shy
to answer back. Instead, I'd
swish-swish away, letting
my thighs do the talking for me.

In reading this aloud to myself, a few things immediately stuck out to me, mostly in regards to the general flow and rhythm:

• I don’t care for the transition from the first stanza to the second. It’s not as effective as I think it could/should be.

• In the third stanza, the repetition of “look”—one used as a verb, the other as a noun—stands out to me. And aside from the repetition, “look” just isn’t a very descriptive word.

• Similarly, in the last stanza, the repetition of “instead” feels…well…repetitive.

• The rhythm seems off to me in a couple of places, particularly in the last two stanzas.

• I’m also not keen on how the poem looks. While I see logic behind the stanza breaks, during revision I worked to see if I could improve the visual appearance of the poem.

• Finally, I see no reason for the title to be in lowercase.

Nit-picky things, yes. But that is exactly what editing and revision entail. Picking nits.

Below is my revised (2025) version of the poem.

"Corduroys"

I asked for corduroys, a simple request 
from an eight-year-old, but still I expected 
a firm no, like when I had begged for
an ever-popular Esprit sweatshirt
like all the cool girls had. 

More than anything, I wanted 
to hear the swish-swish of my thighs
saying hello to one another
in the school library when
everybody was supposed to be quiet.

I imagined that Ms. Sorrentino
would look up over the rims
of her half-frame glasses, from behind the
circulation desk and, with just a glance,
tell my thighs to be quiet. 

But, of course, she wouldn't say it out loud.
Instead, she’d say, "Tell your mom hi for me,"
and I would nod, too shy to answer back. 
And then I'd swish-swish away, letting
my thighs do the talking for me.

This revision exercise has prompted me to want to look at other old poems, which I may (possibly?) post here throughout National Poetry Month!

Until then, I leave you with a selfie I took this past Saturday at the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, where I’m immersing myself in yet another literary form: playwriting. The last class is this coming Saturday, and we’re to bring a near-final draft of our 10-minute plays. So, naturally, I decided to procrastinate by revising an old poem and writing about it on Substack instead! (Don’t worry: I do have a semi-draft of my play written, and I have been thinking about it at length!)

Selfie at the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, March 2025.

My Substack is reader-funded, so if you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a coffee or becoming a paid subscriber. Thanks for reading!

Also, there’s still time to sign up for my Go Fish! Jumpstart Your Literary Journal Submissions Game workshop on April 17, 6-8 pm (EDT)! Learn more or register here.