From slams to sidewalks, poetry is alive in Greater Boston

<p>While April may be <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the cruelest month</a>, it’s an exciting time for poetry. <br> <br> From Jamaica Plain to Cambridge, the <a href="https://festival.masspoetry.org/?_gl=1%2A1j8oyj1%2A_ga%2AMzMwNTQwNDA0LjE2ODAxOTE2NzQ.%2A_ga_CXFQ5EEBZV%2AMTY4MjY5NzE5MC4zLjAuMTY4MjY5NzE5MC4wLjAuMA..%2A_ga_2YJPLHB2Y0%2AMTY4MjY5NzE5MC43LjAuMTY4MjY5NzE5MC4wLjAuMA..&amp;_ga=2.204245456.1148170298.1682697191-330540404.1680191674" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Boston area</a> is flush with open mics and poetry slams — and over the last few years, it seems like poetry has been winning the hearts and minds of young and old alike.<br> <br> A study found the amount of young people <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/06/08/618386432/poetry-is-making-a-big-comeback-in-the-u-s-survey-results-reveal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reading poetry</a> almost doubled from 2012-2017, traffic to sites such as Poets.org <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/02/08/could-renaissance-coming-poetry-wake-pandemic/6256821002/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">surged 25%</a> during the beginning of the pandemic, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/books/bookstores-diversity-pandemic.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hundreds</a> of new independent bookstores have opened across the country in recent years. Poets like <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rupikaur_/?hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rupi Kaur</a> have over four and a half million followers on Instagram, and there have been moments where poetry has exploded in pop culture, including when Amanda Gorman read her poem, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ055ilIiN4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Hill We Climb</a>” at President Biden’s inauguration. <br> <br> "The music of poetry is back. And the performance aspects of poetry are back. And the public aspects of poetry are back," says Elisa New, professor of American Literature at Harva