Poem in your Pocket Day

 

For the last several years, UWSP Libraries has celebrated National Poetry Month in April with our key event being Poem in your Pocket Day, which happens to be today.

We partner with local organizations distributing poems throughout the community, and it is a welcome day with a bit of a break from our routine. As last year, this year we feature Poems from Home recordings from the following contributors:

·   David Arnold (English) reads “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” by Wallace Stevens.

·   Michael Estanich (Theatre & Dance) reads “Falling Ship,” his original poem.

·   Sue Kissinger (Academic and Career Advising Center) reads “There Once was a Puffin,” by Florence Page Jaques.

·   Carrie Kline (University Library) read “Yes,” by Rudy Francisco.

·   Kyle Neill (University Archives) reads “Annabel Lee,” by Edgar Allen Poe.

·   Laurie Petri (UWSP Marshfield Library) reads “The River’s Gift,” by Peggy Turnville.

·   Gretel Stock (University College) reads “My Courageous Life,” by David White.

·   Chris Yahnke (Wildlife Ecology) reads “Rainstick,” by Seamus Heaney.

Please take a 10 minute and 20 second break today and listen to your colleagues as they share their love of poetry.

We encourage you to celebrate this day by taking a few moments to read and share a poem, and here are a few tips to help:

• Select a poem and share it on social media using the hashtag #pocketpoem. 
• Share one of the recorded Poems from Home readings from the UWSP Libraries Guide 
• Record a video of yourself reading a poem, then share it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or another social media platform you use. 
• Email a poem to your friends, family, neighbors, or local government leaders.
• Schedule a video chat and read a poem to your loved ones.
• Add a poem to your email footer.
• Read a poem out loud from your porch, window, backyard, or outdoor space. 
• Make a poetry playlist.

Thank you for celebrating with us, and we leave you with this poem:

Gift

by Leonard Cohen

You tell me that silence
is nearer to peace than poems
but if for my gift
I brought you silence
(for I know silence)
you would say
This is not silence
this is another poem
and you would hand it back to me.