Today, we celebrate the beauty and power of poetry, as it’s National Poem in Your Pocket Day. Encourage people to carry a favorite poem with them throughout the day, ready to be shared with friends, family, or even strangers. It can be a cherished verse that resonates deeply within or a whimsical rhyme that brings a smile to the face, a poem serves as a reminder of the richness of language and the diversity of human expression.
The origins of National Poem in Your Pocket Day can be traced back to New York City in 2002, initiated by the Office of the Mayor in partnership with the city’s Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education. Since then, the idea has blossomed into a nationwide celebration embraced by schools, libraries, bookstores, and poetry lovers of all ages. It’s a day that invites individuals from all walks of life to participate in the joy of sharing poetry through the written word.
Let’s celebrate the power of poetry by carrying a poem in our pockets and sharing it with the world.
Komorebi
From the Japanese,
meaning “tree-light,”
the interplay between
leaves and sunshine,
scattered, filtered.
In English, we might
say dappled or diffused,
but the word also means
a melancholic longing
for a person, place,
or thing far away, not
seen but remembered,
a nostalgia, a flickering
sense of once having
known the feel of a rouge
sunbeam breaking through
multiple moving branches
in order to illuminate
a face almost forgotten.
~LJ
(Written and submitted by Sunday Morning Blogger)
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver’s work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best.