The following is a guest post by National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson. This is the fourth in a series of bimonthly blog posts that Kara will be writing during her laureateship this year.
No matter where you are or how you're celebrating, we hope you'll take a moment to slow down and give the gift of reading poetry—to yourself, to your loved ones, or even to strangers in airports.
Two weeks ago, students from the 826DC Young Authors’ Book Project came on a field trip to the Library of Congress for a collaborative collections-based research workshop in the Library's new Programs Lab.
Earlier this year, Sirianna Santacrose, a Spanish teacher from the School of Ethics and Global Leadership, approached us with an interest in incorporating our Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape (AHLOT) into her class curriculum.
All cultures and peoples turn to poetry during times of celebration, transformation and challenge—those times when ordinary language cannot carry meaning beyond our understanding. The road from childhood to adulthood is a precarious path, yet full of miracles. We need poetry as we navigate that archetypal journey.
Because of her enduring impact and legacy, one doesn't need to look far to find Rosa Parks memorialized in poetry. In 1999, Rita Dove—U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993-1995—published her poetry collection "On the Bus with Rosa Parks." In celebration of the Library's new exhibition, "Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words," we're reprinting two poems from Dove's "On the Bus with Rosa Parks" in this post.