It’s National Poetry Month; here’s how to find your new favorite poem

👋 It’s Wednesday, welcome back to the Daily Edition
Today: The First Amendment’s apocryphal origins, Barack Obama’s decision-making strategies, and magic spells aka poems. Written by Harris Sockel.

Fantasy writer Phillip Pullman once wrote: “Poetry is not a fancy way of giving you information; it’s an incantation. It is actually a magic spell. It changes things; it changes you.” To me, this is probably one of the best descriptions of what poetry can be.

If you have your own definition of poetry, reply to this email to let me know. I’m curious! Maybe we’ll share a few in an upcoming Daily Edition.

April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., a celebration that began in 1996. It was the brainchild of the Academy of American Poets, which maintains a database of 15,713 poems at poets.org. Though the month itself has only been a thing for 28 years, the Academy has elected a Board of Chancellors — literary luminaries who award prizes to younger poets and serve as ambassadors of verse — since 1946. Current Chancellors include Atlanta-based poet Jericho Brown and Mississippi-born poet Natasha Tretheway, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning book honors the Louisiana Native Guard (one of the first regiments of Black soldiers called to fight in the U.S. Civil War).

On Medium, you can browse poetry all month (or year) long in publications like Scribe, Lit Up, A Cornered Gurl, and on the Poetry topic page. Or find your way in via stories like “The Complete Guide to Poetry on Medium” and “How to Use Poetry to Live a Better, Saner, and Happier Life.” As Pullman deftly communicated, poetry is not meant to be explained, so I’ll just end with a short poem I found on Medium a few years ago and keep returning to, by Tre L. Loadholt:

Undisputed Truth:
I exist even
Without your
Approval.

What else we’re reading

• A lesson in conquering impostor syndrome via software engineer Kat Tan: When someone says they believe in you, believe them! Impostor syndrome doesn’t come out of nowhere; it’s often a psychological byproduct of systemic sexism and racism. When you find someone who actually does root for you, don’t doubt them.
• Media lawyer Matthew Schafer dispels a persistent myth about the First Amendment (that it’s first because it’s most important) and shares how it got that position to begin with. Free speech was originally the third amendment, “behind an article relating to proportional representation, which was first, and another relating to congressional pay, which was second.” Those original first two amendments weren’t ratified by the states, so free speech was bumped to first place simply because early citizens didn’t care about proportional representation or congressional pay. Though it became the first amendment by accident, its place gave rise to a self-fulfilling prophecy: Today, we tend to value free speech more highly because it is first.

Your daily dose of practical wisdom (about decision making)

Barack Obama’s advice for making tough decisions: give yourself some space. Step away from the computer, phone, or Situation Room. “Even in situations where you have to act relatively quickly, as was frequently the case during the financial crisis, it helps to build in time to let your thoughts marinate.”

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