Today is the final day in our April is for Poetry celebration!
This week, Bonny, Kat, Sarah, and I are celebrating Poem-In-Your-Pocket Day . . . a designated day, set aside each year in April during National Poetry Month, for the public sharing of poetry. (This year the official Poem-In-Your-Pocket Day was April 18. But we’re celebrating it today.)
I like the notion of sharing poetry publicly, and maybe bringing the joy of poetry to people who usually don’t, well . . . enjoy poetry. For me, then, poems-in-my-pocket should be highly accessible, at least slightly humorous, and . . . short! With these qualifications in mind, I turned to Billy Collins, who is an absolute master with that particular “flavor” of poem. (And today, JoJo is my muse.)
Morning Walk
Billy CollinsThe dog stops often
to sniff the poems of others
before reciting her own.
And so ends our April poetry celebration. Be sure to visit Bonny, Kat, and Sarah to read the poems in their pockets this week.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the poems we’ve shared this month as much as we enjoyed selecting them for you.
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Today’s poem is from Musical Tables: Poems, by Billy Collins, published by Random House, 2022. For more information about today’s poet, click here.
Thank you for sharing poems this month. I will be spending the next month with Liz and her poem a day lessons. Seemed like a fitting start to my next trip around the sun.
We must have been sharing a brain wave because I also first looked to Billy Collins for today’s poem (but didn’t find anything as perfect as you did). Thanks, JoJo, for providing the inspiration! I will never look at walking a dog in quite the same way again!
You and JoJo chose perfectly! Here’s hoping she sniffs and recites plenty of poems on your walks. Thanks for sharing lovely poetry this month!
Haiku. Short and to the point. I love it.
A perfect poem for me and Mr. Tug as well! Thanks!
Who knew a poem was dangling from my hand every day!
The imagery in that poem made me laugh – thank you!
Perhaps I’ll try to quote this when we take Diggory for his morning walk in a little bit. I know I’ll think about it at all the usual spots.
Billy Collins’ work is priceless. Thanks for reminding me to pull a book of his off my shelf.