Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day—an annual occasion to share a poem with your classmates, coworkers, fellow commuters, and others. We're pleased that not only are poetry organizations, schools, libraries, and businesses in the United States widely sharing pocket poems today, but also those in Canada and in Ireland.
Please take a moment to peruse our collection of poems by theme or our special pdf of Poem in Your Pocket poems created in collaboration with the League of Canadian Poets to find a poem that speaks to you. Then, print out the poem and share it with others, or post a link or a screen shot of the poem on social media with the hashtag #pocketpoem.
This year, we're also encouraging individuals to add the hashtag #SavetheNEA and/or #ThankYouNEA, as the poems and the Poem in Your Pocket Day resources on Poets.org are made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
As grateful recipients of this generous NEA support and as one of the largest poetry organization in the United States supported by public funds, we feel a responsibility to help share how the NEA positively impacts poetry communities all across the country. Since 1965, when the NEA launched, it has provided $116.6 million to a wide range of literary organizations and more than $46 million to more than 3,000 individual writers through individual fellowships. The support the NEA has provided poets has been profoundly meaningful, as you can read in their testimonials, providing financial support and validation, which can be useful when seeking employment.
More people than ever are reading poems on Poets.org—a fact that was recently reported in a front-page New York Times story. We are only able to meet this increased demand with the financial support of individuals and the NEA. Please take a moment to learn more about the importance of the NEA and what you can do to help. Thank you for sharing poems today and everyday!