Although April is not lacking in reasons to celebrate (April Fool’s Day, Easter, Earth Day, Arbor Day, Spring Break, etc.), the success of National Black History Month (February) and National Women’s Month (March) inspired the Academy of American Poets to dub April “National Poetry Month” back in 1996.

The goals of the month are, according to poets.org, “[To] highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets, introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry, bring poets and poetry to the public in immediate and innovative ways, make poetry a more important part of the school curriculum, increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media, encourage increased publication, distribution, and sales of poetry books, [and] increase public and private philanthropic support for poets and poetry.”

In honor of the month, poets.org hosts an annual Poet-to-Poet Project that allows students from third to twelfth grade to submit poetry responses to selected poems for possible publication on the website in May. (To compete, send poems to [email protected] by April 30 with your name and the name of the poet who inspired the piece.)