Inspired by the poem, "Keep A Poem In Your Pocket" by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, the City of New York has designated April 28, 2006 as Poem in Your Pocket Day. In a remarkable coalition of partners, including the NYC Board of Education, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York Times, and the Academy of American Poets, Poem in Your Pocket Day represents a citywide celebration of poetry and literacy that offers a wonderful model for other communities.

Today, New Yorkers are encouraged to carry a poem in their pocket and share it with friends, family, coworkers and classmates. Public schools throughout the five boroughs will highlight poetry on this day through readings, poetry workshops and specifically designed lesson plans. Selected poems will be printed in The New York Times during April 26-30. Poem in Your Pocket announcements will be broadcast on NYC-TV and WNYC, the city’s radio station.

To support this celebration of poetry, New York City has compiled the following resources: K-12 lesson plans, lists of grade appropriate poetry anthologies, a list of poetry books in the Mayor's Classroom Library Collections, suggestions for school-wide poetry events, and ideas for encouraging parent involvement. This web resource also includes seventeen poems perfect for sharing, including work by Walt Whitman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Rudyard Kipling, Billy Collins, William Wordsworth, Robert Frost, and "Letter to a Book," a poem by New York City 4th grader, Amani Ahmed.