NPM 50 State Tour: Florida

Happy Poetry Friday!

Are you ready to say goodbye to National Poetry Month? I'm not. We still have a way to go on our 50 State Tour of Poets Laureate.

Florida became the 27th state on March 3, 1845. In 1928, it instituted a poet laureate program.

The Sunshine State's poet laureate is a lifetime post. So, despite being an 82-year-old program, there have only been three Floridian poets laureate. Dr. Edmund Skellings has held the job since 1980.

Skellings has won awards for his blend of technology and poetry including the Videographer Crystal Award of Excellence for a collection of 3D animated poetry, Word Songs, in 2002.

Here is his video-poem from Word Songs, "Incantation."




Unexpected discoveries like Skellings' work have made my National Poetry Month Tour an amazing project. Search www.youtube.com for animated poems created by Skellings' students. Cool stuff.


Sorry we didn't make it to Hawaii before the end of April, gang. On this blog, at least, NPM is taking over May while I finish out the 50 State Tour.

Today's Poetry Friday host is Mary Ann at Great Kid Books. Stop by for some good reads and the Poetry Friday blog roll.