April is National Poetry Month. It’s time to find, flutter, fly. You can take wing, with words.

What is a poem? “A poem is when you have the sky in your mouth,” says Lolo, a character who is always in love, in This Is a Poem That Heals Fish.

What is a poem? It is the white heron rising in flight for Mary Oliver — "Ah yes, I see him. He is exactly the poem I wanted to write.”

Reading a poem can yield a laugh, a gasp, a moment of feeling known. Reading poetry doesn’t have to be hefty homework, a slow slog. You can spend just a few minutes with an unexpected poem selected at random from a volume thick with poetry. You also can find sudden poetry in a picture book or a novel.

Here’s a list of books — for finding, for fun, for trying and flying:

• For exploring: This Is a Poem That Heals Fish by Jean-Pierre Simeon – Leon sets out to find a poem in order to save his fish from boredom. Playfully, this picture book invites readers to explore thoughts about poetry, along with Leon, and to have fun doing it.
• For noticing: New and Selected Poems, Volume Two by Mary Oliver – Mary Oliver pays attention, noting nature and celebrating everyday experiences. Reading a poem from this volume can bring you swiftly into awareness.
• For laughing: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein – It’s fun to read these poems aloud, taking turns with someone willing to laugh. It’s even more entertaining to share them by flashlight in a tent.
• For experiencing: Neruda: Intimacies: Poems of Love, with parallel text in English and Spanish – This volume combines poems on love and intimacy written by Pablo Neruda, with evocative paintings by Mary Heebner. The result is a beautiful investigation into love, complex and sensual.
• For storytelling: The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia A. McKillip – This fantasy novel offers romance, mystery and history, and readers will also find some poetry tucked inside the story, as lyrics sung by the bards.
• For reflecting: A Mirror to Nature: Poems about Reflection by Jane Yolen – Serene nature photos are joined in this children’s book with smart poems and scientific information. Herein, I found moments of quiet.

Have you found a good poem and taken flight via words in this windy, wordy month of April?