Local Poet Laureates Leading Free Events During National Poetry Month

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Photo: Provided by The Well/A Mindful Moment

Cincinnati and Mercantile Library poet laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara and inaugural Cincinnati youth poet laureate Rimel Kamran

Cincinnati nonprofit The Well/A Mindful Moment is offering plenty of free and fun programming to let you read, appreciate and even write poetry as part of a community during National Poetry Month in April.

Led by artists, The Well’s mission is to improve the mental and emotional well-being and connectedness of people through arts, movement, mindfulness and healing-centered practices. They’re once again offering their Mindful Poetry Moments program during April to help engage both children and adults in the beauty and meaningfulness of poetry.

“Mindful Poetry Moments … offers a chance to pause and reflect on poetry’s ability to encounter ourselves, the world, and the mystery of each other. This special collaboration began as a way to provide young students an opportunity to encounter poetry in the course of a normal school day during National Poetry Month and has expanded to reach poetry lovers of all ages,” reads their website.

Mindful Poetry Moments’ theme this year will be “Our Stories, Our Narratives.” They’ll present four poems that fit the theme, along with prompts, in a variety of accessible forms, that are selected by guest curators, Cincinnati and Mercantile Library poet laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara and inaugural Cincinnati youth poet laureate Rimel Kamran.

The program will offer free, daily recordings of prompts and poetry. You can access those by signing up here and following the instructions. You can also attend a free, weekly virtual gathering where you can write poetry and share it with the group every Wednesday during April from 4-5 p.m. You can register for those here.

“Come with a pen, paper, and an open heart,” the organization said in a press release.

If you can’t attend the gatherings, they will be posted on The Well’s YouTube channel.

You’ll also have the chance to submit your work for the fourth Mindful Poetry Moments publication, which will come out this summer. Writers can attend a Zoom workshop, “The Craft of Mindful Poetry,” to work on their poetry submissions with Kamran and poet Sheila McMullin on Wednesday, May 3.

Mindful Poetry Moments will also host a free event, “Threads of Reflection: A Community Poetry and Weaving Experience,” with weaver and writer Rowe Schnure at The Well on Sunday, April 23.

The Well, 2868 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington. More information: thewell.world.