April is National Poetry Month. Here are two ideas for passive program engagement.
Idea #1: Poems in Your Pocket
Since 2008, the Academy of American Poets has organized a national Poem in Your Pocket Day. Rather than just one day, this year I decided to create a month-long display around the event.
I began by creating a template for printing the poems. Because we still haven’t resumed in-person programs at our library, I had some free time on my hands and really threw myself into this project. By the time I was done I had 100 pages. Each page has two poems, so 200 poems total. That large number allowed me to feature a great diversity of voices and also ensure that every time a patron took a poem, they were almost guaranteed to get a new one.
Thanks to some amazing perforated paper I found on Amazon, I didn’t have to labor over the paper cutter, obsessing with dimensions and cursing myself for my inability to slice in straight lines. Just a quick fold and tear of each sheet and I had a neat pile of evenly-sized poems.
I perused a few blogs and Pinterest pages for ideas about how other libraries have presented Poems in Your Pocket. I saw lots of different methods, but I decided to use twine and roll up each sheet into a mini, parchment-like scroll.
We created a poetry display in our adult area and I placed one basket of the poems there. We’re a two-floor building, so I also made small signs and placed a basket on both sides of our circulation desk downstairs.
Result (updated May 5, 2022): Hugely successful! By the end of the month, we had give away 217 poems! A lot of the popularity was generated by the presentation, so rolling and tying the scrolls was no waste of time. It created an element of intrigue and surprise that I think motivated a lot of people to pick one up when they might otherwise have passed by without noticing.
Idea #2: Blackout Poetry Slam
Another tried and true idea for National Poetry Month is blackout poetry, which our Teen Librarian markets as a poetry slam.
For this particular program, which is open to adults and teens, we utilize the windows that encase our Teen Room to display the entries.
Below the windows, there’s a tray with recycled book pages and containers with pens, pencils, and markers. Patrons are welcomed to take any page they like, black it out and add whatever design elements suit their fancy, and then place their finished poem in the second tray for staff to display on the windows.
All manner of creativity (or simplicity–e.g., the elegant single verse, “But hole.”) is welcomed.
Public Library World 