Great Way to Sign off from National Poetry Month – Have Poems in Your Pockets

By Dexter and Luna, ACE Poetry Contest Mascots and representatives for Alpha Schools; Max, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot for SFIHS; and Bessie, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot for OIHS. Oh, yes, Martha helped type. She likes to participate.

It’s a beautiful ending to National Poetry Month. Tomorrow, April 29, is Poem in Your Pocket Day, and that means you can have a poem in your pocket to share with anyone you meet. Dexter here, but I’m with the whole gang of ACE Poetry Contest mascots and we want to share some great poems that are in our pockets today as practice for sharing them tomorrow.

Luna here. Define pocket please. I think a “pocket” can be anything. It can be written on a piece of paper or in your journal that’s in your backpack or your purse. Or typed on your smartphone. Or not-so-smart phone. Tattooed on your arm. Or your poem can be tagged in a book of poems that can carried anyplace, even in your jeans pocket.

Max here. The problem with us mascots is that we have no pockets. So, our poems must be memorized so we can bark them out to anyone who passes.

 

 

 

Or who we fly by. Bessie here and my pocket poems must be short because I fly fast and don’t stick long anywhere. I need to share short poems so my listeners can hear my whole poem.

Are we all ready to share our special poems in our so called pockets? Great, who wants to go first?

I am, I’m first. Luna here, pushing to the front of the line.  Here’s my poem for Poem in Your Pocket Day.

First Fig
By Edna St. Vincent Millay

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends
It gives a lovely light!

(Note from Martha: all three dog mascots barked at Luna’s poem and Bessie clapped her wings.)

I think I need to go next. Max here to update the poets. Here’s a poem from Joy Harjo, our current US Poet Laureate.  It’s called Invisible Fish and it’s in Harjo’s typical style. Just poetic words that make up sentences.

Invisible fish swim this ghost ocean now described by waves of sand, by water-worn rock. Soon the fish will learn to walk. Then humans will come ashore and paint dreams on the dying stone. Then later, much later, the ocean floor will be punctuated by Chevy trucks, carrying the dreamers’ descendants, who are going to the store.

(Note from Martha: Dexter and Luna nodded their heads while Max smiled. Bessie clapped her wings quickly.)

Oh, great poems. Bessie here. I wrote my own poem so I guess I would call it flyyerel poetry. To go along with doggerel and catterel poetry. So here goes. It’s haiku style – short and simple but hopefully inspirational.

Fly
By Bessie

Golden wings at rest
Much more to learn calls to me
I rise to the sky  

(Note from Martha: all three dogs paused then barked and jumped up and down several times. Bessie bowed her antenna.)

Guess it’s my turn. Dexter on the stage now. A poem not too old, not exactly recent, but is spot on in its POV.

Risk
By Anais Nin

And then the day came,
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to blossom.

(Note from Martha: all three dogs howled and Bessie flew up in the sky and returned to the flower she was resting on. Dexter then spoke.)

That was a great set of short poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day. Thank you, ACE Poetry Contest mascots. You have done a great job but it’s time for us to say goodbye to National Poetry Month. Next up on the ACE Spectrum blog will be poems of the Winners of the ACE Poetry Contest, and they are always great. Fabulous actually.

Keep reading and writing poems everyone. Poems are your voice. See you next year.