Poetry and news aren’t a good combination, in most cases. The classic example is a verse composed by fictional reporter Roy Bensinger of The Tribune in Ben Hect’s play “The Front Page,” which became a movie that was later remade as “His Girl Friday”:

“And all is well, outside his
cell, But in his heart he hears the
 hangman Calling and the gallows
falling And his white-haired mother’s
 tears ...”

But poetry, like most things, has its place and this month Barton Community College is joining the national observance known as Poetry Month. There will be live brown-bag poetry reading sessions from 12:15-12:45 p.m. on April 17 and 24 in the Student Union, and poetry can be posted on the college’s website at poetrymonth.bartonccc.edu.   
The public is also encouraged to participate in Poem In Your Pocket Day next Thursday, April 18. Just carry copies of poems on business-card sized pieces of paper and give them out to other people throughout the day.
Why not write a sonnet or haiku? It’s good mental exercise and may brighten someone else’s day.