National Poetry Month-Iowa Poems and Poets

There will be an opportunity to hear young local poets at DubuqueFest this year. In conjunction with the 33rd Anniversary of DubuqueFest Fine Arts Festival (May 20-22, 2011), the Dubuque Area Writers Guild will publish The Dubuque Youth Gallery, an open genre anthology showcasing the art and writing of young Dubuquers.Writers selected for publication will be invited to read from their published pieces at a reception held at the Dubuque Museum of Art, Friday, May 20, 2011 at 7 PM during DubuqueFest.



The Iowa Poetry Association is a non-profit organization whose sole objective is to promote interest in and appreciation for better poetry by Iowans. They publish an annual anthology, Lyrical Iowa. Carnegie Stout Public Library has most of these volumes, going back to 1976, as well as hundreds of poetry books by local authors. They can be found upstairs, in the historic section of the library, in the Iowa Collection, 811.54.

Encyclopedia Dubuque lists several authors under the category:poet, including:
HERZBERGER, Magda
I had the privilege of hearing Magda speak many years ago. She read several of her poems about the holocaust aloud to a rapt audience of high schoolers. Carnegie Stout has several of her books of poetry, as well as two video recordings of her presentations.
HEUSTIS, Bertha Lincoln
KLINKNER, Anthony Ferdinand Timothy
SCHMITZ, Dennis
SIGWARTH, Anthony (Monsignor)
Click on the links to see the titles available at the library.

Here is just a sampling of the many other poetry books in the Iowa Collection:

I found "99 Voices, 99 Lives: County Poems of Iowa" by John David Thompson, to be an interesting series of Iowa poems. Many were humorous with hidden meanings and clues. The poem about Dubuque County is entitled: Dream Acres, and alludes to Field of Dreams.

Steve Healey's book, 10 Mississippi Poems, ranges from oxygen depletion to dead bodies to children's games all within 10 poems. Although not exactly a local author, this book touches upon many things those of us living on the Mississippi understand.

Nishnabotna, by Michael Carey, is a mixture of poems and prose centered around the Nishnabotna River area of southwest Iowa. Although Carey was born in New York, he currently resides outside Farragut, Iowa and his poetry is an evocative look at the rural life.

Don't forget to stop in and pick up a bookmark full of ideas and activities for poetry month. Sunday, April 17 says "TAKE A POEM TO LUNCH: Adding a poem to lunch puts some poetry in your day and gives you something great to read while you eat."