National Poetry Month Exhibits

Various books about poetry sitting on a table.

April is National Poetry Month! Visit Geisel Library and WongAvery Library to see two exhibits that relay ways to celebrate.

At Geisel Library (2nd Floor, West), we feature some of our favorite poetry books from our permanent circulating collection. Additional items will be on display as well, including novelty items to help you compose a quick poem as a study break activity, such as haiku dice, refrigerator-magnet sonnet kits and other surprising, muse-like, poetry-assisting tools. This exhibit is on display from April 1-April 30, 2024.

In the breezeway at Sally T. WongAvery Library, we feature poems themed on science and medicine, highlighting both individual offerings and anthologies of poems from nurses, doctors, pharmacists, pharmacologists, scientists and lab personnel. Of note are new poems from young citizen-scientists that will be added to the exhibit throughout the month courtesy of Students With Dependents, a campus support group that offered to celebrate with us. Those families’ children, along with a science-loving set of children of Library staff, received extra poem-writing inspiration from an excellent collection of kids’ science books courtesy of the UC San Diego Bookstore (on display at this location as well). This exhibit is on display from April 1-June 30, 2024.

A bonus offering in the breezeway exhibit is Scientific Periodic Table Poetry. Library staff have been using the coded letters from the Periodic Table to create biomedical musings and poetic laboratory battle-cries appropriate for National Poetry Month:

La B Co At S

F O Re V Er

Ba B Y !

 

Rn

Po W Er

Y O U

M At Te R

 

Ge N I U S

 

N O

Fe Ar

Be Y O U

Be K I Nd

B Re At He

 

Those who want to exhibit their own Periodic Table musings for National Poetry Month or have a citizen-scientist poet (of any age) who wants to display a new poem at WongAvery are welcome to email a verse to spaulson@ucsd.edu anytime throughout the month.

Contact:
Scott Paulson
spaulson@ucsd.edu