Poem In Your Pocket Day 2013

Happy National Poetry Month! I wrote about it last year (all April, in fact), but this year I've discovered (a little late) the challenge of NaPoWriMo. It seems fitting that if November is National Novel Writing Month and people are encouraged to spend the month writing as many words as possible on a novel that we have a NaPoWriMo as well. In 2003, poet Maureen Thorson (You can read her 2008 chapbook Twenty Questions for a Drunken Sailor as a pdf online here) started the poetry version: write a poem every day for the month of April. But who says you can't do it in May?

At least we're on time with something. This year Poem in Your Pocket Day, begun in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, is today, Thursday April 18. Write a favorite poem on a piece of paper and keep it in your pocket, take it out to share with friends and strangers. (Actually, you don't have to write one yourself, you can carry around a favorite by someone else.)

Also, what is new to me this year is that the Academy of American Poets is posting writing advice at their tumblr account in the form of handwritten notes from different writers. And, as usual, from their main website you can sign up to receive a Poem-A-Day. Read. Write. This is for you. Have fun!

And some images of books with pockets (top three photos by Sibila Savage)…