Tag: Pocket Poems

Poem-A-Day April 23: A Blank White Page

A Blank White Page

is a meadow
after a snowfall
that a poem
hopes to cross

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Hello Friends,

Today’s poem appears in poet Francisco X. Alarcón’s 2001 collection Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems. For other blank page poems, see “The Thought-Fox” by Ted Hughes and “How the mind works still to be sure” by Jennifer Denrow.

I hope you’re enjoying poetry month!

— Ællen

Poem-A-Day April 9: Robyn Hood

Hello Friends,
This poem came to my attention when a woman on Instagram posted it graffitied on a bathroom stall. There are few compliments higher than having your poem graffitied, so I figured it was one worth sharing with you.
Enjoy.
Ællen



Robyn Hood

Imagine if we took back our diets,
our grand delusions, the time spent
thinking about the curve of our form.
Imagine if we took back every time we
called attention to one or the other: her
body, our body, the bad shape of things.

Imagine the minutes that would stretch
into hours. Day after day stolen back like
a thief.

Imagine the power of loose arms and
assurance. The years welcomed home
in a soft, cotton dress.

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“Robyn Hood” appears in poet Kate Baer’s 2020 collection What Kind of Woman.

Poem-A-Day April 1: Happy National Poetry Month!

Hello Friends, and Happy National Poetry Month 2022!

In celebration, I will be sending you one poem per day just for the month of April: 30 days, 30 poems, 30 poets. Today’s selection is by Wendy Cope.

The Orange

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all my jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.

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For those of you new to the list: No prior poetry experience is required to enjoy this poem-a-day list! I’m not going to send you some obtuse obscure long ode that’s impossible to understand (hopefully). My selections do skew heavily, but not exclusively, to American poets writing in English — hence the name “Meet Me in 811,” the Dewey Decimal Code for American Poetry (and my favorite part of the library to wander around picking random books off the shelves).

This poem-a-day series is strictly for personal use only; in almost all cases, I do not have poets’ nor poetry publishers’ permission to reproduce their work. For a more official poem-a-day email list, please visit the Academy of American Poets (poets.org), the creators and sponsors of National Poetry Month.

Thanks,
Ællen

Some of you may know me as Ellen. I go by Ællen (they/them) now.

Is that a poem in your pocket?


Hello Friends,

April 26 is officially Poem in Your Pocket Day, brought to you by the Academy of American Poets — the same folks who bring you National Poetry Month.

Those of you who have been on this list for nine years or more may have seen today's poem before, but I hope it lends itself to re-reading as one of my very favorite pocket-sized (or any-sized) poems of all time.

Enjoy.
Ellen

Hymn for Lota

Close, close all night
the lovers keep.
They turn together,
in their sleep,

close as two pages
in a book
that read each other
in the dark.

Each knows all
the other knows,
learned by heart
from head to toes.

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"Hymn for Lota" comes from the unpublished works of Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) — published in the 2006 collection Edgar Allan Poe & The Juke-Box: Uncollected Poems, Drafts, and Fragments by Elizabeth Bishop, edited by Alice Quinn. This poem is also featured in Marta Góes’s one-woman play A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop.

"Hymn to Lota" by Elizabeth Bishop was also featured for Poem-a-Day April 5, 2009 and Poem-a-Day April 3, 2007.
Poems by Elizabeth Bishop were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 6, 2008 and Poem-a-Day April 13, 2010.