Poem in Your Pocket Day

I knew I loved spring for a number of reasons. Today across the nation in general and at Caldwell Community College in particular, it was Poem in Your Pocket Day. The school was already scheduled for Spring Fling when Nancy Risch and members of the department realized the two days aligned. We got together and kicked it up a notch. Since the Spring Fling had a beach theme, all the members of the department carried sand buckets filled with candy to reward anyone flashing a poem. (Is that a poem in your pocket or. . . ?)

We went further and ordered poetry t-shirts, the most popular reading 'Does anything really depend upon a red wheelbarrow?" Laura Bokus headed up an original poetry contest with monetary prizes, and we announced a poetry slam scheduled for the back patio at two. Dustin Greene and I served as slam master and slam mistress, with Matt Williams serving as sacrificial poet. His takeoff on "Howl" was howlingly funny. We roped in non-English teachers to serve as judges; they were sworn in appropriately on a copy of Shakespeare for Dummies.

For a first attempt, the slam was a great success, and we hope not to wait another year before we give it another shot. Now the buckets are nearly empty (or the remaining chocolate is melted.) I don't know if I ended up with any copies of the poems that started out in my pocket, but I loved the variety that surfaced today. I think I'll keep a poem or two in my pocket from now on.

Poem in Your Pocket Day