Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!
Ever since 2002, April 29 has been designated Poem in Your Pocket Day. I do wish I had known about this day earlier, but it is never too late to share poems. You could extend this pleasurable day into the weekend.
Poets.org shared the following thoughts: “Every April, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, people celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others, throughout the day at schools, bookstores, libraries, retirement homes, parks, workplaces, and on social media (using the hashtag #PocketPoem).”
Poem in Your Pocket Day takes place during National Poetry Month, which seems quite perfect since April feels like a living poem with all the flowers blooming, breezes blowing, and birds chirping.
But why take time with poetry anyway?
Says Missy Andrews in her essay about poetry in Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: Poetry “exercises in-sight. . . that inner vision is the stuff of imagination. . . While the modern mind associates the imaginative faculty with “unreality,” the Bible suggests that figured things are often more real than things material. The Apostle Paul argues: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor.4:18 NIV). If this is so, how is one to perceive the unseen reality of the gospel but with the figurative faculty that is the imagination? How is one to perceive the invisible truths without poetics?”
Not only does reading poetry help us move into the the deep beautiful mysteries of Scripture and life in Jesus, it helps us learn to pay attention, enjoy, lament, name, and move through our lives and places with open hearts and open eyes. Poetry can be a means of grace to help you and me and the children we know live our days well.
Enjoy Poem in Your Pocket Day with a loved one or a beloved little one. Below are poems to recopy and illustrate, memorize or recite, or together share with others (maybe with a telephone call or facetime).
I also suggest adding in pancakes or popcorn or ice cream to increase the fun.
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This post was written by Leslie Bustard, one of the co-editors of Wild Things and Castles in the Sky.
The O in Hope | Luci Shaw
From the book The O in Hope
Hope holds one lovely vowel like a promise!
Think how we cry “Oh!” at the round sun rising.
O is the shape of a mouth singing, and in
the color of a round red cherry.
“Oh!” say our open eyes at surprising beauty,
and then “Wow!”
O is as complete as a wedding ring,
a round pool, and the shape of ripples
spreading on the water.
O is the heart of love and joy.
O was in the invention of the wheel.
O multiplies in the zoo, in an open door,
and in a cool drink on a hot day.
O grows in the heart of a green woood.
O is like the moon, and the looping paths of planets.
You’ll find O in food and books,
and cotton socks, and useful tools, and knitting wool.
We love the double O in good,
and how O is in itself complete and whole.
Love forms a circle that holds us all together,
safe in the center of the loving heart of God.
Puppy and I | A.A. Milne
When We Were Very Young
I met a Man as I went walking:
We got talking,
Man and I.
"Where are you going to, Man?" I said
(I said to the Man as he went by).
"Down to the village, to get some bread.
Will you come with me?" "No, not I."
I met a horse as I went walking;
We got talking,
Horse and I.
"Where are you going to, Horse, today?"
(I said to the Horse as he went by).
"Down to the village to get some hay.
Will you come with me?" "No, not I."
I met a Woman as I went walking;
We got talking,
Woman and I.
"Where are you going to, Woman, so early?"
(I said to the Woman as she went by).
"Down to the village to get some barley.
Will you come with me?" "No, not I."
I met some Rabbits as I went walking;
We got talking,
Rabbits and I.
"Where are you going in your brown fur coats?"
(I said to the Rabbits as they went by).
"Down to the village to get some oats.
Will you come with us?" "No, not I."
I met a Puppy as I went walking;
We got talking,
Puppy and I.
"Where are you going this nice fine day?"
(I said to the Puppy as he went by).
"Up to the hills to roll and play."
"I'll come with you, Puppy," said I.
Who has seen the Wind | Christina Rossetti
Who has seen the Wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
The Duck | Ogden Nash
Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is especially fond
Of a Puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms up.
A Popcorn Song | Nancy Byrd Turner
Sing a song of popcorn
When the snowstorms rage;
Fifty little round men
Put into a cage.
Shake them till they laugh and leap
Crowding to the top;
Watch them burst their little coats
Pop!! Pop!! Pop!!
from Firefly | Li Po
I think
If you flew
Up to the sky
Beside the moon,
You would
Twinkle
Like a star.
The Swing | Robert Louis Stevenson
(This one does need to be read or recited while swinging on a swing.)
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
