April 1, 2007 marks the start of my ninth year as Sparta High School's media specialist! Since coming to Sparta in 1998, many staff members have given input on various media center matters. One of them , a former advisor of the SHS literay arts magazine, was passionate about breathing life into the poetry collection. As a former Englisn teacher who shared her appreciation of poetry, I immediately started purchasing fresh poetry volumes. During that first year, we became friends through poetry. At the same time, other staff members, lamented that poetry had taken a "back seat" in their lives because of the frantic pace of modern life, That is how in April 1999 the SHS Poetry Festival was born! April is both National Poetry Month and School Library Media Month, so it was perfect timing. The Poetry Festival started out as an open-lunch poetry reading for staff members in the MRC's small conference room. As the number of participants grew, the Poetry Festival moved to the main area of the MRC. Now, the Poetry Festival is open to the entire Sparta High School community. Faculty, students, parents and interested community members are invited to the MRC for lunch and poetry. The invitation states " Lunch is provided. Bring your original poetry or a favorite poem to share, or just come and enjoy!" This year the MRC will host the Ninth Annual Poetry Festival on April 20. I'm starting this blog so that our sharing of poetry is not limited to one day a year. I'll be posting "all things poetry". I'm looking forward ot your responses and related postings.