Today, April 21, 2016, is National Poem in Your Pocket Day, another way to celebrate the 20th annual National Poetry Month.
Today, I’m crammed on a bus full of chaperones and 8th graders. We’re on our way to explore the sights in Washington, D.C., but that won’t stop me from trying to convince you that
Poetry is COOL, ya’ll!
Humor the Word Nerd and spend a little time with a poem today. To make it easy for you, I’m sharing this poem and daring you to print it up, put it in your pocket, and pass it along to family members, coworkers, and friends. It’s short, lovely, and uplifting. If the pocket bit is too daunting, at least you can share it on social media!
I’ll be looking for it…
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
By Emily Dickenson
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea:
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
What poem might you carry in your pocket today?
Thanks for getting poetic with me!
My favorite:
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Excellent poem, Dana- and you said you weren’t into poetry. Thanks for sharing.
I love this scrap of verse by American poet Strickland Gillilan that I actually carry around in my wallet every day, and have for years. This is just the last stanza; you can find the entire poem by googling “Strickland Gillilan The Reading Mother”.
You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a Mother who read to me.