One of my goals this year is to try and read at least 12 books of poetry cover to cover, ideally one per month. 

(It's okay if you need to go back and fill in months after the fact. I'm making this challenge in March so I am already having to play catch-up, but I think having the monthly structure is worth it for me.)

I'm doing this because I have too many books of poetry that I have never read cover to cover. I tend to pick them up at random and dip in and out of various poems, then take forever to return to them. I always feel grateful and full of awe after reading poetry. I think it makes me a better writer and a more thoughtful and observant human. So I want to find a way to bring more poetry actively into my life, even when things in the world are so hard. Perhaps especially when things are so hard.

I considered making each of the 12 prompts something specific, like indie published works, books of different lengths, poets with certain marginalized identities, various topics, etc. If you want ideas for broadening your poetic horizons, I highly recommend browsing through the prompts of the Decolonize Your Bookshelf reading challenge by Paperbacks & Frybread Co. and the Read Harder Challenge by BookRiot. The podcast On Poetry is a great resource for "browsing" poems you might not otherwise encounter. I have found some of my favorite poets this way.

But personally, I am al eady struggling to make progress on this and I happen to be such a mood reader. So I think I will just leave this challenge open-ended before I get lost in "shoulds" and give up on the concept altogether. Depending how it goes I might make another next year with more specific challenges.

For now: Is it a book or chapbook or zine of poetry? Did you read it cover to cover? Congrats, that's it, that's the challenge. I'm proud of you.