Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month is a special occasion that celebrates poets’ integral role in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and—of course—poets, marking poetry’s important place in our lives.
In 2025, the Colgate University Libraries, in collaboration with the Upstate Institute and Adirondack Center for Writing, launched the Poetry Machine across Hamilton, NY.
Inside the Poetry Machine are 10 different poems. Each one features a unique style of poetry, including haiku, cento, epistolary, list, ode, ekphrasis, prose poem, how-to, erasure, and cut-up. We’re excited to feature work by the following writers:
- Julia Bloch – “Dear Kelly [p.43]”
- Erin Dorney – Erasure and cut-up poems
- Camille T. Dungy – “this beginning may have always meant this end”
- Ashley M. Jones – “Summer Vacation in the Subjunctive”
- Lillian Klein – “Quarantine Haiku”
- Laurie Kolp – “Carry Me”
- Steven Leyva – “Ode to Lando Calrissian”
- Kathleen Lynch – “How To Build An Owl”
- Sasha Pimentel – “The Kiss”
Joshua Finnell 