Intro to National Poetry Month

April may be "the cruelest month," but it's also National Poetry Month. We here at BillyBlog have prospered in the month of April the last two years.

In 2007, I posted a "Poetry in Motion" poster for each of April's thirty days. In some cases, more than one per day.

Last year, I posted thirty favorite poems from thirty separate poets to honor the month.

But BillyBlog has been waning in production over the past year, as its spin-off, Tattoosday, has involved more and more of our time and effort. So, a conundrum presented itself. What to do this year? Should we continue the traditional April poetry blitz? Or just focus on poetic tattoos here and there, over on Tattoosday?

The answer came back in January. I would have my cake and eat it too. And so the quest began.

This April, BillyBlog will post thirty poems by thirty different poets. These, however, will be selected by the poets themselves, as work that best represents them.

But it doesn't end there. The poets will earn spots on BillyBlog by virtue of their contribution to Tattoosday.

Yes, each one of the poems posted in April will have been contributed by a tattooed poet. The verse may not be needle-and-ink-related, but the writer initially came to this section of the blogosphere to share their body art on Tattoosday.

I am hoping this double-barreled blog venture will be successful. I had some assistance from Stacey Harwood over at the Best American Poetry blog, who helped sound the clarion call for volunteers. In addition, dozens of other poets referred me to those among them who were inked. Facebook proved to be an excellent networking tool as I reached out to poets across America and invited them to participate. I thank, in advance, everyone who contributed and all those who merely pointed me in the right direction.

Enjoy!