For the month of April, the English department and Gunn’s literary magazine Pandora’s Box have celebrated National Poetry Month. English Instructional Supervisor Paul Dunlap says the main idea is to spark an interest in poetry in students.

“Poetry is, unfortunately, seen as something very sterile and academic,” Dunlap said. “In the classrooms, students analyze the poetry so that it loses all of its fun and interest. I hope that throughout poetry month, students will be able to rediscover their enjoyment of poetry.”

Past events have included open mic poetry readings on the quad and poetry contests. As in previous years, Pandora’s Box plans on promoting Poetry Month with poetry grams.

“Poetry grams are poems that you can send to people,” Pandora’s Box president junior Anne Hsiao said. “You customize it, then have it sent to whomever you want.”

Poetry grams have many options for students to customize. While some are pre-written poems, others can be written for a specific person based on sender specifications. Others are similar to ad-libs and are filled in according to the sender’s wishes.

The English Department is also coordinating with video instructor Edward Corpuz to air poetry readings on the morning announcements. According to Corpuz, the readings will consist of an anchor reading a poem the first week in April, and short videos of different students and staff members reading their favorite poetry aired throughout the month.

“This is the first time [the Titan Broadcast Network] has done anything for National Poetry month,” Corpuz said. “In the past, the broadcasting students have worked with the World Languages Department, Social Studies [Department] and the Student Executive Council (SEC). We think that National Poetry Month is a great opportunity for [TBN] to partner with the English Department.”

Dunlap has arranged for poet and Stanford professor John Felstiner to give a talk on poetry in the Little Theater on April 21. Felstiner’s recent book Can Poetry Save the Earth? is a study of nature poetry. According to press release agency Business Wire, Felstiner said he felt that he could use “the pleasure of poetry to reach their consciousness, and their consciousness to reach their conscience.”

In addition to bringing attention to National Poetry Month itself, Dunlap hopes that April’s events will encourage students to foster a genuine love for poetry as well.

“When we first learn to speak and then to read, we learn with nursery rhymes and rhymed books, which is all poetry,” Dunlap said. “Unfortunately, we forget this and begin to think that poetry for English snobs. I hope that students can rediscover a childlike love for poetry.”