Poem in Your Pocket Day + National Poetry Month

Today is a celebration of a Poem in Your Pocket Day, a time for readers to carry a copy of their favorite poem and share it with the world. The idea is this:

Select a poem you love during National Poetry Month. Carry it with you on Poem In Your Pocket Day, sharing it with friends, family, colleagues. Poem In Your Pocket Day has been celebrated each April in NYC since 2002, and nationwide since 2008.

There are lots of poems I cherish, but one of the first I chose post-college was a companion “daffodil poem” to Wordsworth’s “I wandered lonely as a cloud/…When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of daffodils.”

E. E. Cummings’ poems aren’t in the public domain, so I’ve just shared a few lines below and a link to a posting of the poem (scroll part-way down page 1) that I found on someone’s personal page on the booklovers booklist site GoodReads.com.

from E. E. Cummings, Complete Poems 1913-1962

in time of daffodils(who know

the goal of living is to grow)

forgetting why,remember how

…

and in a mystery to be

(when time from time shall set us free)

forgetting me,remember me”

― E.E. Cummings

Since you’re getting news of this celebration late, shall we make it a week, not a day?

Take a look at your bookshelves–perhaps those college books you have on a top shelf.

Or look at the poems in your children’s books.

Or open the Bible with the heart and ear of a poet and let the words in.

Or make a point to dive into a book of poems in the library or a bookstore tomorrow.

Savoring a little less, but a bit more deeply, is a good practice for all of us.