The Academy of American Poets started this tradition in 2008 to recognize poetry and American poets. Carry a favorite poem in your pocket and pull it out and read it on this day. You can read it aloud outside your own front door, to co-workers, or in some public place, regardless of how unexpected it might be!
Perhaps you’ll choose something serious or emotionally moving. I like those that ring with thought or philosophy or downright silly humor. Let me share 3 little gems with you on National Poem in Your Pocket Day. They all come from Americans born in the 1800’s… Humor and insight are indeed ageless.
“My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!”
— Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950)
American poet
“I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us – don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!”
— Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)
American Poet
“I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one!”
— Gelett Burgess (1866 – 1951)
American artist
#PocketPoem
