National Poem In Your Pocket Day

Today was National Poem In Your Pocket Day! Started as a community event in New York City in 2002, and made official by The Academy of American Poets in 2009, NPIYPD encourages participants to share a chosen poem with their schools, workplaces and community centers. Today, I participated for the first time - and who knows, maybe one day, I'll be able to say I participated in International Poem In Your Pocket Day!

So, since I didn't get around to everyone today, I'm using this as my chance to  share my selection with you. It's a free-verse piece by Adrienne Rich,  and it's one of my favorites. I hope you'll like it too...

For An Album

by Adrienne Rich

Our story isn’t a file of photographs
faces laughing under green leaves
or snowlit doorways, on the verge of driving
away, our story is not about women
victoriously perched on the one
sunny day of the conference,
nor lovers displaying love:
Our story is of moments when even slow motion moved too fast
for the shutter of the camera:
words that blew our lives apart, like so,
eyes that cut and caught each other,
mime of the operating room
where gas and knives quote each other
moments before the telephone
starts ringing: our story is
how still we stood,
how fast.

National Poetry Month #24