As the 26th annual National Poetry Month comes to a close, the Academy of American Poets reports that in the last year, 18,015,092 individuals worldwide read poems on its website, Poets.org. Poets.org also experienced a 10% increase in overall traffic compared to the same time frame before the pandemic.
“That so many millions of individuals have been reading poems speaks to the increasingly important role of poetry and literature in American culture and in the lives of readers, especially now. It’s in poems that we make meaning of our experiences and envision new ways forward,” said Jen Benka, President & Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets.