Not a day of National Poetry Month was wasted, as Elizabeth Thomas – poet, teacher and performer – kicked it off by helping to connect people with their creative selves.

The April 1 event was sponsored by the Annex at WindhamARTS and Steven Dahlberg of Applied Imagination. The first Wednesday of each month features a different topic and presenter.

Thomas, who had just returned from teaching a two-week course in The United Arab Emirates, encouraged her audience of varying ages and backgrounds to find their creative voices. She was introduced by Dahlberg, who used a quote by Joseph Campbell to express what he hoped poetry would bring to the audience. “We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us,” he said.

Thomas spoke about what makes a poet: “I live life with a poetic awareness. I notice things. I always carry a journal with me, and once, I started writing on my arm because I didn’t have a journal with me,” she said.

She began her “Creative Networking” activity by asking her audience to “think about poetry or music or visual art and where we find the creativity for that art. Where does it hide in action, sound, object and nature?” Each person then wrote where they thought poetry was hiding and passed the paper on to the next. Each participant eventually had a sheet of paper with several lines written by others. She then asked each to read the image they felt most moving.

“It is apparent that people approached doing this with honest effort,” said David Boldak, a participating musician and visual artist. The selections read were filled with imagery one would expect of professional poets.

Dahlberg is connected with the University of Connecticut as an educator and is instrumental in creative networking , and his goals are to help people interested in creativity to come together and share and inspire each other in the various arts. The “First Wednesday” events are designed to offer an inspirational and informative way for people to connect with each other.

The series, which began a few months ago, is gathering steam, and more people have been attending. “I have been coming to the sessions regularly and find them informative and interesting,” Emily Marker said.

Dahlberg hopes to grow the number of participants and bring them into the artistic resource of WindhamARTS.

Many programs – ranging from Any Kalisher’s show, which is on exhibit until April 23 in the gallery, to an evening of smooth jazz upstairs in the annex on April 10 – are planned in April at 866 Main St. For more information, send email to Gallery@WindhamArts .org, or call 450-1794 .