It is FINALLY here! I know, I could not sleep last night either! Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day. You need to print out (or memorize) your favorite poem and then carry it around to share with whomever. It’ll be fun. Really. When they ask, “Why are you reading me poetry?” you can tilt your head slightly to the right, look a bit puzzled, and reply with, “Be…cause, it is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.” (remember to smile 
)
To which they’ll undoubtedly respond, “Oh, right.”
You can pick out your favorite poem or pick one at poets.org or just pick one of mine! If you choose the latter option, you have impeccable taste. Really.
So, here it is. Now when some poet freak comes up to you and pulls out some tattered piece of paper you will actually know what is going on!! (And this will shock the poet — so please be gentle.) Then whip out your little gem and slam it! And remember, you heard it here first!
Love,
Ric Booth
Saving poetry ignorant people from public embarrassment one post at a time.
52 comments
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April 17, 2008 at 8:40 am
territerri
I’m volunteering at my kids’ high school today. What a perfect place for me to share the love of poetry! I bet all those teenagers will be so excited!
April 17, 2008 at 9:36 am
ric booth
Terri: Ahhh… if there’s one thing teens love its… its… its probably not poetry. But hey, prove me wrong and I’ll be happy!
April 17, 2008 at 6:42 pm
edfromct
Ric, thanks for the reminder. Since I retired my wallet seems to be empty most of the time.
I think I will carry a favorite poem with me. Anyone who mugs me will see how crazy I am and leave me alone.
Terri, if you want to get kids attention with poetry find one with the word booger(s) in it.
April 17, 2008 at 7:07 pm
ric booth
Ed, Great idea with the wallet poem.
And what rhymes with boogers… hmmm.
April 18, 2008 at 12:27 am
lovewillbringustogether
RIC! - You’re not one of those poets who has to rhyme everything are you?
Amateur!
(Fugue’ers, looger’s, beluga’s, cougar’s, lugers, juga’s (n. pl. ju·ga (-gə) or ju·gums - yokelike structure in certain insects that joins the forewings to the hind wings, keeping them together during flight.), MOOGer’s, nougats, OOH-GAH’s, suga’s ( Swedish word meaning ’suck’s as in: this comment Suga’s big time!
) )
‘Nuff to be going on with for now Sir??
yup - i like numbers (simple math) AND words equally!
Roses are red,
Violets are purple (no word in english ryhmes with ‘purple’ - this could end in disaster!)
The Pope goes Commando…
and i’ve come ‘full circle’! (saved it!)
<B
April 18, 2008 at 7:59 am
ric booth
love: haha, when i wrote that boogers thought out i tried to imagine who would bite. it was a toss up between you and brandy.
April 18, 2008 at 12:35 pm
lovewillbringustogether
You know your readers ( both of them!) well Sir!
( i think Brandy was busy with the Kids and returning rugs or somefink?)
<B
April 18, 2008 at 6:01 pm
edfromct
Love, “The Pope goes Commando” that is a mental image I really don’t need.
I think I need a gaint size case of brain floss. 
“Uga, Uga, Uga. I have a great, big, booger.”
“You’re a real looker and I hope you have some sugar.”
April 18, 2008 at 6:07 pm
ric booth
ed:
Brain floss and Uga… You DID work for the government didn’t you?
April 19, 2008 at 12:45 am
tam
When i look in your eyes
i fell all a flutter
my knees go weak
and i begin to stutter
i lean into you
feeling much braver
then you open your
and call me “sugar booger”
April 19, 2008 at 12:46 am
inWorship
So, is that a poem in your pocket or are you just glad to see me…
No?
Sorry, I’ll go back to my corner of the blogosphere
April 19, 2008 at 12:58 am
tam
ok. 2nd to last line…who took out “mouth”?
should read “then you open your MOUTH”
oh geeze - this could get ugly
April 19, 2008 at 9:14 am
ric booth
Tam: You gaff (missing MOUTH) has given me a dangerous idea… Poem/rhyme fill-in friday… if could be
or 
or just plain 
April 19, 2008 at 9:18 am
ric booth
B: ummm… well… ok here: some poems do hit like a hammer? I think you’re right though. ya know, about staying in the corner an’ all. ? Here’s yer hat: /\
April 20, 2008 at 5:49 am
lovewillbringustogether
Aww Geee - now i have to correct myself - you have FIVE readers!
That is a VERY Dangerous Idea, Ric and should ONLY be attempted in the Month of April ( seeing as how it is National Poetry Month or so i am ‘reliably’? informed.)
Maybe YOU should put one up on FIP (Friday is Poem) day??? Fortunately there is only one left in this month! Phew!
Sugar Booger?? Brent is right - He IS still in Puberty!
Sorry Ed - I think pipe (the kind one smokes) cleaners would be more practical instead of floss? You can bend ‘em to reach into all the crinkly bits!
<B
April 20, 2008 at 3:38 pm
tam
Ric! Fabulous idea!!! YES! Do a Rhymin’ Wednesday or something and have each commenter rhyme, or transition into next rhyme, one after the other… It could totally work!
Let’s practice…
“Feeling unsure of which way to go…
April 20, 2008 at 10:26 pm
lovewillbringustogether
Should it be ‘Yes’, or should it be ‘NO!!!!!??’…
<B
April 21, 2008 at 12:31 am
tam
“the more I consider the direction to take….”
April 21, 2008 at 5:47 am
lovewillbringustogether
the greater the need for a nice chocolate cake!…
April 21, 2008 at 5:49 am
lovewillbringustogether
Which, along with a decent hot cup of Tea, …
April 21, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Michelle
One of my favorites, Ric, and the only one I have completely memorized:
The colors move between black and white
In a place that we know best by sight.
But knowing best isn’t everything
For colors dance and colors sing,
And colors laugh and colors cry;
Turn off the light and colors die.
And they make you feel every feeling there is
From the grumpiest grump to the fizziest fizz.
And you and you and I know well
That each has a taste and each has a smell,
And each has a wonderful story to tell.
It was written as an introduction to my favorite book of poetry, Hailstones and Halibut Bones. The poems have been used for the blind to help them “see” colors. I’ve always used it in whatever classroom I teach, it’s inspirational!!
I don’t get out much, so that was the “poem in my pocket” for one of my best loved poets — you!
April 21, 2008 at 5:17 pm
tam
“Which, along with a decent hot cup of Tea, …”
Can really make a small bladder have to ‘wee’
Well that was fun! Thanks Love for playin along
April 21, 2008 at 7:22 pm
ric booth
Hey, love, Tam: thanks for running with that dangerous idea! I’m visiting my Dad this weekend and will be back (more plugged in) come Wednesday.
Love the poetry… a wee bit anyways.
Michelle: Thank you so much! I can feel the love. So you’re a teacher? Cool. What do you teach?
April 21, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Michelle
I taught third and sixth grade before my children came along, then I homeschooled each of them. It was great fun and I miss it terribly, but the energy isn’t available anymore. So…I blog.
April 21, 2008 at 9:12 pm
ric booth
And we learn. Cool. :apple:
April 22, 2008 at 9:24 pm
lovewillbringustogether
swot!
<B
April 22, 2008 at 9:36 pm
ric booth
love, I’m back. What is ’swot!’ all about?
April 22, 2008 at 11:00 pm
lovewillbringustogether
swot = one who is a suck up to a teacher ( handing apples to ‘Teach’ eg.
)
<B
April 23, 2008 at 7:34 am
ric booth
Aussies, its like you’ve got a word for everything!
April 23, 2008 at 4:32 pm
brandy
*ahem*
Sorry, just got back from returning rugs or somefink.
I like the idea of a rhyming blog post….the FIP.
One I remember, which has a funny story behind it is:
COme Lord Jesus
Be our guest
Let this food to us be blessed
My step dad used to say it EVERY SINGLE NIGHT before dinner when we were growing up and, being immature kids, thought it was SO ANNOYING b/c that would be ALL he said. Eventually we’d pipe in with our own prayer or just giggle our way through his.
When I got married he walked me down the isle and at the end, right before he sat down with my mom, he whispered in my ear “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, let this marriage to you be blessed” 
THis is the very first poem I ever memorized when I was about 10:
As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend
I brought my broken dreams to God because he was my friend
But then instead of leaving him in peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried, “how could you be so slow?”
“My child” he said “what could I do? You never did let go”
April 23, 2008 at 4:41 pm
brandy
I need a peace Lord help me now
I need to let go I don’t know how
Carry my pain, see me through
Let it bring me closer to you.
I wrote that in highschool. Yes Love, I was the amateur poet that had to rhyme.
hahaha!
April 23, 2008 at 5:55 pm
ric booth
Bandy: Cool story. So when your dad whispered that, did you smile, chuckle, or cry?? Also, I love the little poem you memorized at 10. Any lastly, Robert Frost wrote rhyming poetry.
April 23, 2008 at 10:38 pm
bransblahg
Ric, I laughed hysterically. Ask Brent and Tammy, I laughed through my whole entire wedding. People thought it was b/c I was nervous. I wasn’t. I was just giddy.
April 23, 2008 at 11:21 pm
lovewillbringustogether
That would be: everything ( Aussie word for ‘everything’ , pronounced everybloodything)
)
Hey Bandy! lol i think Ric might have a lot on - too much to proof read his comments on his own blog even
A few of the Older Professional Poets also at times used rhyme - so don’t feel bad about copying them
I quite liked your poems actually
<B
April 23, 2008 at 11:36 pm
inWorship
Yup! Shes’ always giggling…
I miss hearing it Bran
April 24, 2008 at 12:42 am
bransblahg
I am laughing right now. haha!
You guys all crack me up.
Ahhh, there’s always something to laugh about. Now, if only I can remember that at times like this afternoon when I was surrounded by half unpacked boxes, three screaming kids, and a husband who was browsing NetFlix.
hahaha!! 
Brent, I’m sure if you listen closely, you could hear me all the way out in Oregon.
AHAHAHAHAHA!!!
April 24, 2008 at 1:09 am
inWorship
Brandy, I am most positively sure that I could hear you here…from there.
April 24, 2008 at 1:53 am
bransblahg
April 24, 2008 at 1:54 am
bransblahg
I should have a laugh soundbite on my blog. When you come to my page you’ll hear it. hahaha!!
April 24, 2008 at 7:53 am
ric booth
Brandy: We’ve never met face to face yet nothing in this thread surprises me. The laugh soundbite is a cool idea but, in your case, totally unnecessary. I already hear your laugh in my head.
love: What does Older Professional Poets mean exactly?
April 24, 2008 at 10:45 pm
lovewillbringustogether
Keats, Browning, Shelley, Booth - take your pic Sir!
‘Bandy’ - what Ric said!
Occasionally - when the wind is in the right direction ( from the North West!) i can catch ‘glimpses’ of your infections giggle (read: LOUD laughter!) waaaaayyy down here
What your height lacks in stature your laugh more than makes up for!
<B
April 24, 2008 at 11:11 pm
bransblahg
AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!
How did you know I was short?!?! Are you spying on me Love???
Ric, I am cracking up that you can hear me in your head! Oh dear!
hahahahahaha!!!!
This had me ROLLING though: Keats, Browning, Shelley, Booth - take your pic Sir!
heehee
April 25, 2008 at 8:04 am
ric booth
love, That’s a list of mostly dead poets but none of ‘em are old.
April 25, 2008 at 10:24 am
brandy
They’d be old if they were still alive.
April 25, 2008 at 11:12 am
ric booth
Wait… one of ‘em might still be alive… Brandy! Did you just call me “old”?
April 25, 2008 at 3:24 pm
brandy
AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! NO! But that is funny!!
heehee
I would assume that “they” would all be MUCH MUCH older than Ric the whippersnap that he is.
hehe
I have no grounds to joke about age Ric, I am the baby of this blogging community we both frequent. *sigh*
April 25, 2008 at 11:25 pm
lovewillbringustogether
Bran - spying on you…??? - you know that hole in the corner of the
Oops! - i’ve said too much 
Ric - ‘The Mostly Dead Poets Society’ - you could be founding member Ric!
You’re certainly the only mentioned living one, and i stand corrected - Shelley was NOT old! - he was Olden!
nonononono! you are confusing what i said before…. ( and getting me confused as well - nothing new there i can assure you!
I said old-ER prof poets. Meaning poets From ‘older times’ not… ah fergeddit - you’re OLD man - deal with it
( Old does NOT mean ‘past it’ btw!)
and i am glad my nom-de-plume got you to write what you did as a last blog.
less of me
<B
April 26, 2008 at 12:32 am
brandy
LOVE!
hahahaha!! I knew there was something fishy about that hole in the wall! 
haha!! You must be “behind” that odd hole in Tam’s wall as well. 
April 26, 2008 at 1:22 am
lovewillbringustogether
I can only Dream Bran - i can only dream
<B
April 26, 2008 at 2:57 am
brandy
OH DEAR.
April 26, 2008 at 8:52 am
ric booth
Brandy: Thanks for clarifying. You are the baby blogger around here so it is nice to see some respect for us elders now an’ again.
love: “Dream Bran” hmmm… is that a new hi-fiber breakfast cereal? Doctor recommended? Ok, all kidding aside, as long as those dreams do not involve me you may continue. Beware tho, cross that line an’ I’m gonna have to edit you!
April 28, 2008 at 2:44 am
lovewillbringustogether
if i cross THAT line you won’t have to edit me Ric… i have a feeling i’ll be wanting to poke my own eyes out!
- so NOT what i had in mind 
or did you mean the remarks about you being old?