April is National Poetry Month, a holiday not much acknowledged, even by Hallmark. And yet, and yet, most people have written at least one poem in their lives, maybe as a child in school, as a teen with a mad crush, or, as an adult, grieving.

Poetry is a place we naturally go when we feel strong emotions, as reader or writer. Poems are read at weddings and funerals, spoken at presidential inaugurations, handed out at spiritual retreats. Lines of poetry appear on coffee mugs and t-shirts. That should raise an eyebrow and tell us something about the power of poetry to sell a brand.

Maybe you’ve never thought about the status of poetry in our culture, but I think about it a lot, and mourn. I could make a long list (and have in my April Psychology Today column, “The Healing Power of Poetry”), of why poetry is good for our health. How we feel less alone, less isolated when we read a poem that speaks to us. How poems offer wisdom, soothe our distress while also naming it. When a poem “gets us,” we feel part of the vast human community; we feel seen and heard. We have a voice.

I write poetry and novels, and my approach to fiction is with a poet’s eye. Which is why writing a novel takes me so long. I just can’t help myself; I subvocalize each sentence for its meaning and rhythm, for its sound and sense. The novelists I return to share this love of language. Read any passage from any novel by Marilynne Robinson and you’ll know what I mean.

But speaking of poetry, thank you for your generous responses to my collection M and your attendance at the readings. I had a grand time participating in a reading in Santa Fe with wonderful local poets Tina Carlson, Kate O’Neill, Mike Burwell, Lise Goett, and Will Barnes. Hopefully, we will have a reprise next winter. Please stay tuned. Some other events are in the works as well. Check my website Events page for updates. I’m always grateful when someone writes to let me know that something I’ve read publicly, or written, has landed with them. I like to think we are in conversation. I do appreciate feedback. And if you have a moment, please do consider writing a review for The Conditions of Love or M on Amazon and Goodreads. Those reviews help spread the word about the books.

Two new reviews of M have recently appeared in the spring issues of Jung Journal: Psyche and Culture (see downloadable PDF here) and Wisconsin People & Ideas. I’m honored by the deeply insightful eloquence of Dr. Ken James and Jean Feraca, respectively. If you wondered why some of the poems in the book are in the voice of Mary Magdalene, both these thoughtful pieces offer insight into what Magdalene represents. She seems to be popping up in other art forms in the culture, most recently in a Sunday Times supplement about women and the arts. She’s become almost a deity, like a Greek goddess, her own version of a strong feminine spiritual force.

I was going to write more about my new novel, The Lost Mother Archives, but I will save that for next time. The relationship between mothers and daughters is a subject I find endlessly fascinating, as do the novelists Elena Ferrante, Vivian Gornick, and Anne Enright, to name a few.

Spring is here and not here, but surely the bluebells and daffodils in the garden signify the chronology of seasons still exists. I send wishes for renewal and restoration, hilarity and joy.

Wishing you well from afar.

Fondly, and with care,

Dale