Poem in Your Pocket Day is April 26

April is National Poetry Month and in celebration, I would like to encourage all of you to participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day. On April 26, carry a poem in your pocket. Pull it out and read it to friends and family. Or if you're more enthusiastic, print out several copies and give them to friends, family, or strangers on the street!

You can find out more about the celebration and find poems here:
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                                             Poem in Your Pocket Day

When I worked in the school library, I would print out copies of short poems on small, index card-sized paper and offer them to students at check-out during the entire week of Poem in Your Pocket Day. They loved it! They would use them for bookmarks, too. Each year, I chose a different genre of poetry; traditional, nursery rhymes, limericks. I had a lot of fun with the project and it made my heart glad to see students reading and enjoying poetry.

Here is the poem I will be carrying around on April 26:
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​The Sick Rose

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

O Rose thou art sick. 
The invisible worm, 
That flies in the night 
In the howling storm: 

Has found out thy bed 
Of crimson joy: 
And his dark secret love 
Does thy life destroy.

I chose it because it's short enough to memorize and it has a macabre theme. 

Even though April is almost over, here are 30 ways to celebrate national poetry month

Lastly, I will leave you with a poem I wrote in high school that I recently unearthed. I think I was attempting to follow a specific traditional form of some sort after finishing a unit on Shakespeare (perhaps?) in Senior English. I'm not sure I succeeded.

​Anyway, please enjoy this cringe-worthy masterpiece:

Spider Game

Oh! How lovely she is!
Her hair of gold, swept up in a crown
Her blue eyes so slanted and large
Her nose so protruding and shiny
Not much lovelier could she be!
So many secrets inside that mutant head
Pretending to be so sweet and frail
Fondle your earrings, dear, and win a lad
Closest to an angel Earth’s ever had!
Fools she, not me, with indulgent flirts
Choosing who to tempt and who to hurt.
A never ending tale of love’s despair
To think she represents a sacred vow!
She should be crucified, a sacred cow!
Thousands of men have loved and lost,
Not knowing the evil that owns her
She claims love eternal, then draws it away.
Laughs hysterically at such clowns!
She finds another one to down.
My sight may be tainted, for I have seen
All her actions played close to me.
She despises me, therefore she wishes
To stab my heart by charming the man
I’ve loved as only I can.
She taunts and teases him endlessly
Weaving her web of sugary lies.
He, maybe aware, maybe not, is drawn
Ever so close to the center of Hell
No safety has he with a witch so well!
It may be my own that feeds the flame,
But I am not blind to her, as is he.
Or perhaps he hurts me with full intent.
Maybe this man, completely free,
Has forever been playing spider with me!