I'd never heard of National Poem in Your Pocket Day until I read about it on the Academy of American Poets website while browsing for some information on National Poetry Month. On April 30th people are encouraged to keep a poem in their pocket and share it with co-workers, family, and friends throughout the day. It actually sounds like a day I can get behind; I'm for anything fun and simple that doesn't involve costumes (I usually don't partake in Talk Like A Pirate Day).
Now I just need to choose a poem to carry around. The library collection has a lot of interesting poetry books. Here are a few that I looked at while in search of my pocket poem:
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones. A novel about what happens when a family member has a mental breakdown told entirely in first person poems.
Technically, It's Not My Fault: Concrete Poems by Jack Grandits. The design of the text is interesting without even reading it, and, when you do read it, it is really funny!
The Columbia Anthology of American Poetry. All of your favorite, famous American poets in one handy volume.
Great Online Sources for Finding Poems:
Columbia Granger's World of Poetry. KCLS has a subscription to this online database. You can read or listen to poems, read poet bios and commentaries and more. To access the database you'll need your library card number.
Poets.org. The website of the American Academy of Poets.
Bartleby.com. Full-text of many classic poems.
I'm looking forward to hearing your pocket poems this Thursday, April 30!
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