Poem in Your Pocket Day - How to Share Poetry Digitally
Quarantine has changed just about everything, from the ways we learn to the ways we communicate with others. And it’s definitely changed the ways we celebrate. Over the past few months, I’ve gone to several Zoom birthday parties and a friend of mine went to a Zoom wedding. A holiday I thought might be hard to replicate though was one of my favorites: Poem in Your Pocket Day.
It always falls near the end of April, National Poetry Month, and it’s one final opportunity to share your favorite pieces with the people around you. It’s very simple: put a poem in your pocket, and if you feel moved, give poems to others. In the past, I would usually choose 3-4 poems, fold them into origami hearts, and then choose one to give to people based on their mood. However, obviously, giving things to people en masse wasn’t exactly a feasible option this year.
When I went to Marlon and Jordan wondering if the Learning Lab could create a digital Poem in Your Pocket project, they encouraged me to think big, and we decided to do a whole video extravaganza.
Although giving people small printed out poems isn’t possible, we realized we have the power to send poems straight to people’s pockets (using their phones!) In order to preserve the personal nature of being given a poem in person, the prompt called for videos of the sender reading their poem. Then, the recipients would send videos of them reacting to the poem back to the reader, as well as a video of themself reading the poem that was sent to them. Then the original reader will record themselves reacting to their friend reading a poem that matters to them. (if this seems confusing, see the chart below)
One of the reasons why I loved this set up was how personal it seemed like it would be. One of the best parts of Poem in Your Pocket Day is watching as your friends open the poems and smile or laugh or look confused… It’s great getting to see how other’s interpret the poems.
The Execution:
Poem In Your Pocket - For Sophie Who’ll Be In First Grade In The Year 2000 - Rita Dove from Learning Lab on Vimeo.
As you can see in the video above, there was definitely a huge amount of intimacy in the project. You can see the smiles, the moments of laughter, the looks of surprise… Although it’s happening asynchronously, it feels so unified… One of the readers, Molly, writes that getting a video of her partner reading her poem “felt like a gift”
To Shivi, it just felt “SO cool,” and made poetry seem more “accessible.” Julie wrote that it was “heartwarming” and “relaxing.” And all three of them described picking poems that had special meaning to them — Shivi’s poem, Tyger Tyger, was a favorite from her childhood. They opened up and shared something special with their peers through this simple exercise.
so why is this sort of reaction video valuable?
It’s valuable because poetry is more than just a one-sided experience. It has personal connotations (different ones!) for every individual, and doing these reaction videos lets us see it in real time. Creating this digital Poem in Your Pocket Day replicates the casual atmosphere of bumping into someone in the dining hall and asking their thoughts on the reading, but with the added dimension of involving beloved pieces. It’s a chance to react and share differing opinions without the pressure of an in-class setting, as well a chance to connect over a love for art and literature, something oh-so-personal but hard to replicate.