Tennyson wrote, "In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." The Academy of American Poets suggests that in spring, and specifically in April, you turn your fancy to poetry.
National Poetry Month was founded by that organization thirteen years ago with the goal of celebrating poetry and its place in culture. Since then, the organization has come up with several ways by which writers and readers can make poetry part of their communities.
This year, they have declared Thursday, April 17, as Poem In Your Pocket Day. You are encouraged to carry a favorite poem in your pocket and share it with someone during the day. Of course, in these technological times, "reaching into your pocket" could mean posting to a blog or sending a text message. The web site gives several ideas for how you might share your favorite poem, and resources for finding poems you might like.
Read a poem this month. If you are brave, write a poem this month. If you find a poem you like, share it with someone else. If you don't already have a favorite poem, feel free to visit The Piker Press archives and look at some of the poems we have published over the past six years. (Do a Category search for "poem".)
I don't know yet if the following poem is the one I will put in my pocket on Thursday, but it's one I've always liked. There, I've shared one. Now it's your turn.
Sonnet XXX
William Shakespeare
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear times' waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.
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