Welcome to the 2012 edition of April Poetry Madness. I will be running this tournament in my 8th and 9th grade classes at Pine Point School, as well as in my evening college class at Three Rivers Community College. These poems were written for serious and sophisticated readers from age 9 to 90, and I've found, over the years, that both my adolescent students and my college students can enjoy and appreciate this kind of high-level poetry.

If you get a minute, click on any poem to read and listen to it, then listen to its opposing poem, and then decide which one you like best. If you wish, click "comments" below each post and let me know your winners. I will be sure to add your vote to the totals.

I will be counting the votes of the Pine Point students and the TRCC students in order to determine the winners at each school. To see how the tournament progresses, stay in touch with this blog as the weeks of April pass. Sometime in early May, The Final Four will be held at both schools, and this will decide our two champions -- or maybe our single champion!

Enjoy!

--Hamilton Salsich