To me, the month of April showers signals National Poetry Month. Many of you know that I am inspired by this month dedicated to poets and their craft. We will celebrate National Poetry Month at Kent School with Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day on Thursday, April 24. It is always a fun day when students and employees share poems with each other.
While I was away from Chestertown over our spring break in March, I read a beautiful collection of poetry by Meredith Davies Hadaway, the Sophie Kerr Poet in Residence at Washington College. Even though I was not on the Eastern Shore, I was transported home to the Chester River by Hadaway’s words. Her writing is evocative and moves seamlessly from the natural world to her own personal storytelling. I highly recommend The River is a Reason if you are looking for a poetry selection this month. I will be reading daily from the works of my friend Naomi Shihab Nye (last year’s Kent County Poetry Festival poet-in-residence), Mary Oliver, Robert Frost, Josephine Jacobsen, Lucille Clifton, Emily Dickinson, and others this month.
We are so fortunate to live in a community that values poets, authors, poetry and poems. The Kent Cultural Alliance’s annual Kent County Poetry Festival just had its 16th anniversary. Bravo! Although I was at our annual Kent School Auction on April 5, I am always inspired by the poets in our midst and those poets who travel to be with our community in April.
The literary arts connect us and remind us of our shared humanity, a phrase I first heard from Naomi.
From the Kent Cultural Alliance website – By allying the arts and humanities together, we can build stronger communities through those things which connect us. Exactly! We all need some arts and humanities to connect us today.
Last Friday night Kent School held its annual Spring Showcase. While the weather did not exactly feel like spring, the all school visual art exhibit and performing arts concert brightened the gloomy, rainy day. It is hard not to smile when viewing student artwork and hearing student voices lifted in song.
Join us on May 16 and 17 for our annual 8th Grade musical. This year the students are performing The Little Mermaid, Jr. With a special thank you to The Kent Cultural Alliance for their support, our 7th and 8th Grade students recently attended a vocal workshop in New York City prior to seeing a performance of Wicked on Broadway. They are in rehearsal for their show now and it promises to be fun-filled.
In The Little Mermaid, Jr., Ariel dreams of being Part of That World:
Up where they walk, up where they run
Up where they stay all day in the sun
Wanderin’ free, wish I could be
Part of that world
Let’s make Ariel proud in our shared world filled with the arts.
Nancy Mugele is Head of School at Kent School, Chestertown
