There’s a holiday for just about everything these days, but some of them can be intriguing. Poem in your Pocket Day was initiated in April 2002 by the Mayor of New York City as a part of National Poetry Month. To participate, all you have to do is carry a poem in your pocket with you all day and share it with others at schools, workplaces, libraries, bookstores, parks, coffee shops, and on social media using #pocketpoem.
This is fantastically appropriate as April is the birth month of William Shakespeare, one of the most famous poets who ever lived. Some time circa 2005 a guy that I knew pulled a poem from his pocket he “wrote for me;” it was pretty romantic and cute. However, he refused to give me his only copy, so I was not surprised later to discover he had also read it to my best friend.
Poetry is an ageless conduit for transmitting ideas. They can be introspective, provoking, and stimulating. The purpose of a poem is to make the listener think. Whether you have an interest in literature or not, everyone should participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day. It’s a great ice breaker to strike up a conversation with a stranger, intrigue your friends, or convey an aspect of yourself you have trouble communicating. A poem can be used to change a heart that seems unshakable, melt a heart that is unyielding, or a mind that is impenetrable. It can be used to say something that is too difficult to say in your own words. Or if you’re like me, you just want to make other people laugh. You can write a poem, choose a famous poem, or find a poem online.
**Friendly reminder, haikus are poems too! That’s a poem with the format 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.
Here are 11 options for Poems to keep in your pocket!
Romantic
I’m so glad my thumb
Accidentally swiped right
On your tinder pic
She spoke Russian
He spoke French
Google helped translate
I closed my eyes
Tilted my head back
Your love is my guillotine
Heartbreak
“Ebb” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I know what my heart is like
Since your love died:
It is like a hollow ledge
Holding a little pool
Left there by the tide,
A little tepid pool,
Drying inward from the edge.
“Heartbreak Haiku” by Amy Sutton
I carved and re-carved
Your name so deep in my heart,
The light shines through it.
Scary
She asked why I was breathing so heavily
I wasn’t
She stands in front of the mirror
It’s not her reflection
That stares back
My own slow decay.
Each small hair is turning gray.
Love it more each day.
She patiently irons
The dress
She was killed in
Friendship
You and I are friends
You laugh, I laugh
You cry, I cry
You scream, I scream
You run, I run
You jump, I jump
You jump off a
bridge, I’m going to
miss you buddy:)
Thought-Provoking
“Leo Said” by Eileen Myles
You’ve gotta
write clearer
so you can
be read
when you’re
dead
“A Word” by Emily Dickinson
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say – I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
Funny
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
God made me pretty,
What happened to you?
I wake, reluctant
Too cold to get out of bed
But I need to pee
How many lightbulbs
Does it take to screw someone?
Oh, got it backwards
I am a DOG
And you are a FLOWER
I lift my LEG UP
And give you a SHOWER
The Amazon Echo Alexa will tell you a poem if you ask her. Siri however, is not a poet laureate. She claims to be the fourth-worst poet in the universe. So participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day this year. You may find that it’s fun and can help you communicate in a creative way.
For more information on what you can do for Poem in Your Pocket day, visit Poem In Your Pocket
Featured image via Unsplash
