The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will bring “Poem in Your Pocket Day” to the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson counties on Thursday, April 20.
All branches of JMRL will be handing out gift-wrapped poems for your pocket. Anyone can stop by their local JMRL branch and pick up a poem, unwrap it and read it to someone, or hold on to it for a rainy day. Poem scrolls will also be available at various locations throughout the community, and volunteer street teams will hand out poems on the Downtown Mall.
To make this event possible, permission was granted to reproduce selected poems, and staff and volunteers have put together about 5,500 poem scrolls to share. In addition to distributing poems, JMRL will hold “Poetry on the Steps” at 7 p.m. on April 20 at the Central Library. This will be an open mic event for anyone to come by and read their favorite poem, read an original poem, or just stop by and listen. Refreshments will be served, and the winners of the Adult Poetry Contest will be announced. Both events are sponsored by the Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, with Writer House serving as a co-sponsor of the Adult Poetry Contest.
“Poem in Your Pocket Day” was created as part of the celebration of National Poetry Month in April.
