Poetry Month Freebies, Events & More!

April is Poetry Month, which means it’s also a great time for free poetry! 

Free Poetry for Everyone
We’re thrilled to offer a free download of the April 2023 issue of Poetry for you to enjoy from anywhere, taking poetry wherever you go! 

The April 2023 issue features poems by all eleven of the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize winners (CAConrad, Sandra Cisneros, Rita Dove, Nikki Giovanni, Juan Felipe Herrera, Angela Jackson, Haki R. Madhubuti, Sharon Olds, Sonia Sanchez, Patti Smith, and Arthur Sze), as well as brief introductions by friends and literary compatriots. Access audio versions of some of the poems plus podcast episodes featuring interviews with some of the poets later in April. You can find the free issue in the POETRY Magazine App, available through the App Store, Google Play, and Amazon.

Poetry Events
There’s a lot happening throughout the Poetry Foundation during Poetry Month and beyond, and many of our events have both in-person and virtual components. Check out our Events page for everything that’s upcoming, including a hybrid reading with Renee Gladman, Eileen Myles, and Simone White on April 20. We’ll also be hosting our first Staff & Friends Reading with Poetry editor Adrian Matejka, library associate Maggie Queeney, guest editor Charif Shanahan, and 2021 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize winner Patricia Smith on April 27.

Visit our table at EXPO CHICAGO on April 13–16. We’re also hosting a hybrid Art Writers Panel that weekend. Then the Poetry magazine team will be tabling at the New Orleans Poetry Festival Bookfair on April 16–17. 

If you’re in Chicago, don’t forget to visit our poetry library, where you can read from over 30,000 volumes of poetry, and check out our current exhibition, Alex Katz: Collaborations with Poets. Plus, visitors will have the chance to spin our prize wheel for free poetry goodies all month long! Plan your visit now. 

New Resources
In addition to our extensive archive of educator resources, poet bios, essays, podcasts—and of course the over 46,000 poems available on our website—we have some new additions to the roster to help you get in the poetry spirit.

In further celebration of the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize recipients, fresh Poem Samplers will be added to the Poetry Foundation website and to the 110 Years of Poetry Magazine collection throughout the month of April. We also have Better Craftsmen, Not Gods, an online exhibit on the editing of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.

Keep Poetry in Your Life All Year Long
Current Poetry subscribers can enjoy all of our digital issues and special collections in the POETRY Magazine App for free. To access the digital version on a mobile device, download the POETRY Magazine App and enter the email address associated with your subscription via the settings tab. You can also access the digital version on a computer. 

If you’re not a subscriber, you can start a digital subscription at $30 for a full year of access to Poetry issues dating back to 2013, along with poem recordings by the poets themselves, podcasts, and more.

Thanks for spending Poetry Month with us!