The Poet Who Didn’t Know It

Today marks the beginning of National Poetry Month! Hooray! Perhaps you’re wondering, “What does that really mean?”

It means all across America, educators are dedicating time to encourage students, K-12, to both STUDY and CREATE poetry. What’s more wonderful than that!? And actually, I just learned that The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month exactly 30 years ago, back in 1996. One year AFTER I discovered…

I was a poet who didn’t know it. At all.

Way back in 1994-95, I was a fairly carefree fourth grader, enjoying the latest lesson from my dear teacher, Mrs. Linda Cates. One day, she read aloud to our class what I remember to be a lovely collection of poetry. When she was finished, she challenged us to take what we’d just heard and BE INSPIRED! She told us to write a poem of our own. That was the assignment.

I remember noticing many of the poems did not rhyme, so I didn’t need to worry about that. And, some had incorporated color as their subject. That felt like something to me. So, I sat for a moment, thinking about my favorite color: Green.

As my imagination began unearthing all the wonderful ways the color Green is found in nature, my pencil sailed across the loose-leaf notebook page, and in pretty perfect cursive. Before I knew it, I had a poem, apparently. But what happened next, I never saw coming…

Within a few days, Mrs. Cates pulled me aside to say how wonderful my poem was. I smiled and said “thank you,” feeling that momentary jolt that comes from praise and approval. But I simply bopped back to my desk, ponytail swinging side to side, having NO CLUE what was coming…

Letters. In the mail. To ME. About my poem. Often.

Mrs. Cates had submitted my poem to contests. A lot of them. But, the most memorable was a local contest titled Think Ink. Nearer to the end of the school year, the annual Think Ink award’s ceremony was held and they released the year’s anthology and announced all of the winners.

I’ll never forget sitting there, expecting to hear my name early on, as I’d often been an Honorable Mention kind of girl. But nothing. Even friends’ names were being called left and right, and as time passed, I just felt more and more confused.

When they finally arrived to the BIG first place announcement, I remember my stomach felt yuck, disappointed for coming all that way and getting gussied up for nothing. Obviously I was invited by mistake. Some clerical error. I really didn’t belong there.

Then…I heard it.

“Jennifer Mason.”

Wait. What? I looked back toward my parents. They were as flabbergasted as me!

And don’t worry, the mail never stopped coming. I kid you not. When I graduated high school in 2003, we were still getting a few pieces of mail each year about that poem. For heaven’s sake!

I’m still in the process of unpacking from our latest move, so I haven’t found the anthology or the poem itself yet. But, I did uncover the above.

This old certificate, marking that moment in time, found ME recently, and at just the right time. I had honestly forgotten ALL ABOUT this. I hadn’t thought about my MOMENT as a poet in decades. So, when I was dealing with feelings of “unqualified” and fighting the evils of Imposter Syndrome, this memory resurfacing for me was like a bandage for my aching heart. And, coincidentally, a perfect nod to my Main Character, Ghost, who you can see below revisiting his glory days.

So, on this first day of National Poetry Month, I want to say “Thank You” to Linda Cates for seeing potential in me, and for making sure I saw it, too. The encouragement she gave, all the way back in 1994-95, was perhaps just a sprinkle into the universe of what could be…

But as I look back now, I know that the confidence and self-assurance I gained from her belief in me helped lead me to exactly where I am now, which is just a wonderful place!

And, in case you didn’t know it, my debut picture book, THE GHOST WHO SAVED HALLOWEEN, is a rhymer AND is inspired by one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most celebrated poems, “The Raven.” It releases July 21, but you can pre-order it TODAY!