Did you know April is National Poetry Month? I knew there was a National Poetry Month, but I had to look it up to be sure of when it was. And, lucky for me (because I was going to write this post one way or another), it’s coming right up!
I know what you’re thinking. You barely got over Christmas when along came Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day and Easter….how are you going to find the time to decorate for National Poetry Month?!
Don’t worry; I’m here to help.
The good news is that decorating for National Poetry Month is super easy. Poems are just a bunch of words, and your printer can make those for you! Phew!
Truth be told, this project was supposed to be this giant, fancy sign on reclaimed wood hanging above the board and batten in my bedroom. I’ve been planning it forever. I used to comment on people’s posts whenever they made signs, thanking them for sharing their technique because pretty soon I was going to make a sign, too!
Ahem. Two things happened: 1. life and 2. my friend, Kristi, painted an amazing octopus for me for Christmas. “Wouldn’t it be easier,” I thought to myself, “if I hung up my amazing octopus in that spot and just…printed out the words on a sheet of cardstock instead of making a sign?”
It WAS easier. So much easier.
“But you, like snow, like love, keep falling,” is from a Robert Penn Warren poem called “Love Recognized” that was read at our wedding. I was in grad school getting a degree in English at the time, so I felt a lot of pressure to find really good poems for our wedding.
Do you know how hard it is to find love poems that are both really good and NOT cynical? We ended up with “Habitation,” by Margaret Atwood, “Love is not All,” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, and “Love Recognized,” which is definitely my favorite of the bunch. The inscription on our wedding rings is “you, like snow, like love” but I expanded it to include the whole line here.
I would love to reprint the whole poem here, but I suspect I’m probably not supposed to, and one of my professors from grad school is the executor of Robert Penn Warren’s estate, and how awkward would it be if he had to sue me?
You can find it online, though, and you should, because it’s lovely. Here, in fact, is a recording of Robert Penn Warren reading the poem.
But you’re waiting for a tutorial, aren’t you? Here you go.
I found a font I liked on dafont (this one is called “gabrielle”).
I printed out the poem on cardstock.
I put it in a thrift store frame:
That snake has a piece of paper in its mouth that reads, “don’t waste copy paper.” I’d like to pay a visit to THAT office. They seem fun.
Finished!
This post also serves as a preview of the master bedroom reveal I have coming up later this week! Exciting. Like National Poetry Month.
Linking with:
oh atwood was my favorite in college! it’s been too long since i have sat and read poetry. i took a women’s lit class which was my favorite and we touched on some of her works…. that was also the class that i read kate chopin’s the awakening which was one of those works that sits with me forever. love this project and reminder! and i want to work in the office that has the snake sign, too! 😉
For SOME reason(s) I’m always a little too distracted to read much poetry these days ;).
Yay for Margaret Atwood – have to put in a vote for a fellow Canuck! My favorite poetry is all Robert Service – that would be fun to build a theme on too. Hmmm. A room dedicated to the Ballad of Blasphemous Bill might not go over so well…
ha–never heard of that one–I’ll have to check it out!
so sweet!! We had poems read at our wedding too, and my husband is an English teacher so we super struggled picking THE PERFECT ONES. I ended up stealing one of the poems Emma @ Broke Ass Home used at her wedding, and of course my husband picked a Shakespeare one for the 2nd. haha.
You can’t really go wrong with Shakespeare, can you? Although I hear HIS marriage didn’t always go swimmingly 😉
Love this. Believe it or not, Aaron is quite the poet. He loves to write poetry. I wish he’d publish some of it on our other blog. He also loves to code of course, and he always says code is poetry. What a guy.
Just frame some of it and then sneak a picture of it hanging on the wall onto the blog 😉
Bedroom reveal trumps poetry day. Yes, I am sure of it 🙂 Love the font you chose and it is most definitely an upgrade from the snake picture 🙂
Well, I don’t know. I am pretty fond of my bedroom, but I don’t know that I’d compare it to POETRY 😉
I always love a good holiday and art with meaning behind it! Also, is it bad that I don’t remember much from my wedding? (I hardly drank. Just old age.)
I don’t remember much from the actual wedding, but I remember the months of agonizing over the poetry selection (I handled poems and music and the guest list and left food and flowers completely up to my mom).
Love this too! I should hang a poem in each kids’ room
I should, too! I’m hogging all the poetry for myself right now 😉
This is so cute!
I’m so glad you could help in this time of seasonal decorating. So much pressure! 🙂 That snake is hilarious. I want to meet the person responsible for that.
Edna St. Vincent Millay is my favorite poet! That is a morbid poem to read at your wedding, lol. But she was like that. I read “Witch-Wife” at my mother’s memorial service because she always loved it.
I like your print! I might have struggled with taking that snake out of the frame, because he was awesome too.
I remember seeing her book in your bathroom! 🙂 I remember telling the guy who read it (who is named Gus, like my son) to be VERY CAREFUL not to put any emphasis on “think” in the “I do not think I would” line. Because one could read it that way and make things a lot less….true love-y
Love poetry, love simple. Great project! And for love poems, I like Ted Kooser’s Valentine collection. (Can’t remember the name of it off the top of my head.)
Thanks, Rita! haven’t heard of him–will have to check it out (not that I’m planning anymore weddings ;))
Here ya go: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18990762
He’s one of my favorite poets–literary and accessible. And I think love poetry is even more important AFTER you’re married! 🙂