How State Poet Laureate Jennifer Horne Celebrates Poetry During a Pandemic
A still from the video readings.
For National Poetry Month this past April, the pandemic put a stop to many readings and forced the poetry community to find other vehicles for celebration. Alabama State Poet Laureate Jennifer Horne did what she has often done in the past—she mobilized an effort from the grassroots and managed to create a gift for Alabama poetry lovers.
A Little Spark, A Love for Poems, and A Lot of Social Media
After deciding to honor Alabama poets by sharing a reading daily, Horne realized she would need to use social media. So she created an event, “Alabama Reads Poetry”, on Facebook, and invited the public to join her in reading a poem on their preferred social media and use the hashtag #ALreadspoetry. To quote:
“In the absence of getting to see people read in person, my hope is that this ongoing statewide event will generate a host of online poetry readings. I also hope that we'll keep using the #ALreadspoetry hashtag for future events and announcements to link our Alabama poetry community. Feel free to include a link if you have a new book. However you do it, that's the right way--just read us all a poem!”
Then Horne slowly, carefully, prodigiously read a poem each day and shared the reading on twitter from the Alabama Poet Laureate account.
By the end of National Poetry Month, Horne had created a all-over-Alabama digital archive of readings featuring the work of the following Alabama poets:
Andrew Glaze (see above)
We are grateful and inspired by this beautiful collection—and yet another reminder why our state values and treasures our state poet laureate so much.