For National Poetry Month, we asked some of our distributed publishers “What does poetry mean to you?” We hope you enjoy their thoughtful answers.

“Poetry is the beauty of words, the color of the blind, and the music of silence. Good poetry paints words onto paper and creates powerful images that takes your breath away. Poetry is an art of unbounded meaning that provides a surreal form of expressing one’s emotions, thoughts, and experiences.”—2Leaf Press

“We believe poetry is an affirmation of the deep and elemental range of our human experience, and our need for it is as crucial now as it ever has been.”—Autumn House Press

“Poetry is a pure expression of one’s personal landscape and a bridge between the worlds of the writer and the reader. We seek to share poetry far and wide to build and support a community of mutual, cross-cultural, and interpersonal understanding.”—CavanKerry Press

“Just as our name (Omnidawn) suggests—‘omni’ (in all ways and places) and ‘dawn’ (the first appearance of light)—poetry means to us the space where we can explore internal and external boundaries and push, with compassionate insight, the limits of risk.”—Omnidawn Publishing

“A Poem. That which throbs like a tiny vein under one’s skin. Poetry as second skin. Sensed more than ‘made visible.’ Like affection. Even love.”—Seagull Books

Poetry books from of these publishers are available now on our website or from your favorite bookseller. Happy National Poetry Month!