Poem in Your Pocket: 200 Poems to Read and Carry

By Bruno Navasky and Academy Of American Poets

Book Overview

First there was National Poetry Month, then there was National Poem in Your Pocket Day, now you can carry a poem in your pocket anytime! Published in conjunction with the Academy of American Poets, Poem in Your Pocket enables you to select a poem you love, tear it out neatly from the book, and then carry it with you all day to read, be inspired by, and share with coworkers, family, and friends. This innovative format features 200 poems from Shakespeare to Sexton, cleverly organized by theme. If you're feeling wistful, flip to the "Sonic Youth" section. If you want to romance your lover and surprise him or her with a seductive sonnet, turn to the "Love and Rockets" section. Now you can easily spread the love of poetry or treasure it in private with Poem in Your Pocket! Whether you're a fan of Sylvia Plath or Emily Dickinson, Frank O'Hara or Walt Whitman, Poem in Your Pocket has a poem for everyone.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810906368
• ISBN13: 9780810906365
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Abrams Image
• Length: 436 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.3" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Heart Smile

A Poem In Your Pocket will make your heart smile and your whole body feel glad. Each poem which may be savored then torn out and shared...given away or kept forever--is a way of knowing, remembering, reveling or just plain finding peace. Poems, old, new, icons or scarcely known sit together-- to pleasure us...and give us the ability to share a thought or feeling or to keep one in our pockets or heart forever. What a gem this giant of a little book is. A 'don't miss' for holiday giving and sharing.

A sneaky thrill...

There's something great and sneaky about *tearing* a poem out of a book. We sponsored a group reading from this anthology, and although it began by people reading things they'd chosen beforehand, somehow it evolved into a kind of poetry-roulette: folks tore out a poem without looking at it first, and then read *that* one. I was struck by the really satisfying range of eras and styles, known & unknown writers. Each poem made you listen a different way. It makes a great, implicit argument for inclusivity, surprise. You hear Dickinson's strangeness differently next to Lyn Hejinian's, Yeats next to Olena Kalytiak Davis, etc. It's somehow pleasing, too, that there's no table of contents (although there are sections: Love & Rockets, Friends and Ghosts, Sonic Youth, etc...), and that you just have to happen on a poem, rather than finding some particular one you're looking for.

Celebrating National Poetry Month

What a delightful, eminent, and portable book of poems! It will excite even those unaware of and uninterested in the power of poetry. As part of the celebration of National Poetry Month (April), a tradition started in 1996 by the American Academy of Poets, this book features an introduction by Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate, and brings together a wonderful cross-section of the poets who illuminate our literary world and our hearts. It is a diverse assembly: Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Gary Snyder, Derek Walcott, Yehuda Amichai, Edna St. Vincent de Millay, and the list goes on--a diverse community indeed! Intended for sharing, the book is designed so that poems can be torn out, carried in the hollow of deep or shallow pockets, pulled out and read on the sidewalk or subway, and passed on to friends or strangers--or kept to oneself, hoarded for the unending pleasure in moments of truth. Write your own poem, if you want, and celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 30, 2009. Let the art of thoughtfully chosen words--poetry and the sharing of it--unite us. Reviewed by Viola Allo