Seventh Annual Tribute to Poetry might inspire 'the next Maya Angelou'

Editor:

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After many months of making patients aware of all the physical ailments to be mindful of during Breast Cancer and Heart Month, the Center For Primary Care is proud to be a part of encouraging the thoughtful and creative health of our community.

Every year since April 2000, we have been doing our part during National Poetry Month to keep writers' creative juices flowing.

We began by sponsoring authors in conjunction with requests to collaborate programming in the schools. When we realized the needs of poets and other writers of all ages were not being met during this month, we branched out.

We now find ourselves, along with a few other community businesses, sponsoring a growing literary event - The Seventh Annual Tribute to Poetry. From our humble beginnings of presenting prizes at the local schools, we are now holding a program at the Jabez Sanford Hardin Performing Arts Center in Evans featuring a showcase of our winners' talent and presentation of cash prizes. This event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 28 at the Theater.

Our poetry competition and the awards ceremony and showcase are in keeping with the many ways our community can publicly recognize and celebrate National Poetry Month. Other suggested activities are listed on the American Academy of Poets Web site www.poets.org, and on the Web site of our co-sponsor, www.prapublishing.com.

Among the activities our program includes this year is our sponsorship of the contest, a poetry reading, support of youth poetry, submission of poetry to a news editor, reading poems at the library, and lending support to a poetry organization.

We are proud of our involvement as sponsors in the Seventh Annual Tribute to Poetry, not only because it is an event that has endured and grown over the years but also because we never know when it might be the forum and inspiration for the next Maya Angelou to go for it.

Robert M. Clark, DO

Family physician and CEO

Center For Primary Care

Evans