Gay Poetry! A Celebration of Poetry around the Kidlitosphere, and here, too! Sir Philip Sidney's "My True Love hath my heart, and I have his..."

It's April! That's National Poetry Month here in the USA, where we enjoy every excuse to celebrate things we already love.

There are some wonderful Childrens and Teen poetry celebrations happening around the Kidlitosphere that you should know about:

Check out Greg Pincus's 30 Poets/30 Days celebration at GottaBook. Greg's lined up some LUMINARIES in the world of children's poets, and will have a new, previously unpublished poem by some AMAZING poets every day of the month. It will be on my do-every-day-in-April list!

Also, Tricia over at The Miss Rumphius Effect will be celebrating with Poetry Makers, 38 interviews with FAMOUS and FABULOUS children's poets throughout the month!!!

Facinatingly enough, there will be moments when you can read a new poem at Greg's site, and then read an interview with the author at Tricia's blog! How cool is that???

Anastasia Suen is launching a new blog, Pencil Talk, which invites students from K-12 to submit their own poems and she'll pick one a day to post on the Pencil Talk blog throughout the month of April.

And here, on a smaller scale but with no less enthusiasm, we'll be sharing some new and some classic Gay (GLBTQ) poems, a new one each Friday for the whole month of April. In fact, if you've written a Gay (GLBTQ) poem that you think would "click" with readers of this blog, add it in comments... and maybe YOUR poem will be one that gets featured here!

So, stay tuned, and get ready to dive into the language, the visions, and the raw, sparkling emotions of some wonderful poems...

Here's one to kick off our celebration, by Sir Philip Sidney:

'My true love hath my heart, and I have his..."

My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for the other given.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss:
There never was a better bargain driven.
His heart in me keeps me and him in one;
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;
He loves my heart, for once it was his own;
I cherish his, because in me it bides.
His heart his wound received from my sight;
My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;
For as from me on him his hurt did light,
So still, methought, in me his hurt did smart;

Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.

As found on pg. 13 of "Gay Love Poetry," edited by Neil Powell.