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“Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private,” said poet Allen Ginsberg.

In most English classes students tend to dislike poetry and typically complain. However, come the Poetry Slam BA students are more than eager to share their personal thoughts, whether it may be your love for someone near and dear or even cows, in front of the entire school.

Why is this? You may ask, like Ginsberg said, poetry is a way for people to express themselves in a public setting where what is being said is usually kept hidden.

Poetry is a way to discuss issues or topics that people tend to ignore or cover up due to whatever reasons, but when the words of all poets, new or old, are heard for all to hear there is a community formed and every person is unified.

There is a sense of fellowship that not only the poets themselves can feel but even the listener and observes.

Most poetry is meant to be spoken out loud, not simply to be read like a book. There is a bigger and stronger emotion connected to each poem than most people realize.

When good or great poetry is performed out loud a huge power takes present and the understanding for the themes and the intentions the author had can be truly revealed.

Poetry was meant to push limits, to increase the movement of the little gears inside our minds and to divulge us into a state of awe as we marvel at the surrealism being put into play.

Some of the greatest movements in poetry, as well as literature, are Ancient Greek poetry (7^th-4^th century BC), Provencal Literature (11^th-13^th century), Sicilian Court Poets (mid-13^th to early 14^th century), Elizabethan and Shakespearean Era, Metaphysical Poets, Romantic Poets (including Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats), American Transcendentalists (1836-1860), The Beat Movement (1948-1963), the Harlem Renaissance, the Confessionalists, the San Francisco Renaissance, and Black Mountain Poets.

With the Poetry Slam slowly approaching, would it come to any surprise that Great Poetry Reading Day should be celebrated? Of course not! So get out there and read, listen, or write some great poetry of your own and celebrate Great Poetry Reading Day!