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Top 10 Poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day

By Will Willingham 6 Comments

Best Poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day Old Pocket Watch

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Poetry readers across the country are celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day this week, each folding a poem and carrying it, you guessed it, in their pockets. We don’t want you to be caught poem-less, so we’ve pulled together ten short poems from Every Day Poems (unless your pocket is very large, you probably don’t want to fold and carry The Wasteland in it). Choose one to copy and keep with you all day. You might even take out your poem and read it to a friend or coworker.

1. inhale

inhale
then for a moment
nothing

—Hank Archer

2. the first bite

The first bite
is all I want
wild pear

—M. Abeles

3. First Grade Classroom in March

Whatever’s caught inside wanting out, as a sound
is stuttered before the word’s pronounced.

Read more

—Jody Zorgdrager

4. Lullaby with Succotash

maybe start talking say I like those
dangly things on your ears they’re called earrings
I know that and while you’re talking get out a bowl

Read more

—George David Clark

5. It Is the Wings

It is the wings that take the damage,
not the hollow, honeycomb bones,

Read more

—Claire Bateman

6. Juicy Couture

Make my clothes dripping,
and make them organ and smoke.
Make me an outfit with mutable bloom,

Read more

—Carmen Giménez Smith

7. Passage

You spin, and the whole world turns
upside down. Roots become growth

Read more

—Maureen Doallas

8. Window

Night from a railroad car window
Is a great, dark, soft thing
Broken across with slashes of light.

—Carl Sandburg

9. Laundry Love

is tangled shirts
the hem of a skirt
caught

Read more

—L. L. Barkat

10. a path of leaves

a path of leaves
our conversation
turns wordless

—Chris Patchel

Photo by Derrick Collins. Creative Commons license via Flickr.

Every Day Poems Driftwood

 

With a subscription to Every Day Poems, you could have a poem (paired with beautiful art and photography)  in your pocket every day. Or, at least in your inbox.

Buy a year of Every Day Poems, just $5.99

 

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Will Willingham
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Will Willingham
Director of Many Things; Senior Editor, Designer and Illustrator at Tweetspeak Poetry
I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel, Adjustments, is available now.
Will Willingham
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Latest posts by Will Willingham (see all)
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Filed Under: Blog, National Poetry Month, Pocket Poems, Short Poems, Top 10 Poetic Picks

About Will Willingham

I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel, Adjustments, is available now.

Comments

  1. Maureen Doallas says

    April 17, 2014 at 9:59 am

    What a lovely surprise to see a poem of mine here. Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Jody Lee Collins says

    April 18, 2014 at 11:50 am

    I chose a poem by another Jody (the first grade classroom one, of course) AND Claire’s “It is the Wings”. I have two back pockets 🙂

    Reply
  3. Liz says

    April 23, 2014 at 4:04 pm

    The best possible collection I can imagine for Poem in Your Pocket Day is Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison’s ‘Braided Creek.’

    Old friend,
    perhaps we work too hard
    at being remembered.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Top Poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day | Poets &... says:
    April 17, 2014 at 9:35 am

    […] We don't want you to be caught poem-less on Poem in Your Pocket Day. Choose one of these ten short poems to keep with you all day.  […]

    Reply
  2. Tweetspeak Poetry's Top Ten Posts from the Last Month (or so) | says:
    June 5, 2014 at 8:33 am

    […] 3. Top Ten Poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day […]

    Reply
  3. Top 10 Pocket Poets and Their Poems - says:
    April 22, 2016 at 9:13 am

    […] many a National Poetry Month celebrant, the highlight of the month is Poem in Your Pocket Day, that wondrous day when poetry appears magically from pockets everywhere for impromptu readings in […]

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