Poem in Your Pocket

Customer Reviews

• A sneaky thrill...  Apr 18, 2009 (7 of 7 found this helpful)

  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  Apr 18, 2009 (6 of 6 found this helpful)

  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

• Heart Smile  Oct 30, 2009 

  
  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.