The poster for Brunswick’s 2021 Poem in Your Pocket day celebration. Courtesy of Kathy Koerber
Brunswick will again celebrate Poem in Your Pocket day this year on April 29 after taking 2020 off due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The tradition, which will look significantly different in light of the pandemic, started locally in 2012. While also a national event, this year will mark Brunswick’s ninth Poem in Your Pocket day.
According to organizer and Brunswick local Kathy Koerber, the goal of the tradition has always been to build community through the voice of poetry.
“I was reading a biography about John Adams and in 1776, John Adams said to his young son, ‘Johnny, you won’t ever be alone with a poet in your pocket,’” Koerber said in an interview. “That gave me the adrenaline to say that we can move ahead, somehow [with social] distancing.”
In previous years, downtown businesses would assist in distributing poems and stickers for the public. According to Koerber, people would place the sticker on their jacket, which would signify that they are carrying a poem in their pocket, which they could read aloud.
This year, however, to encourage social distancing, poetry readings have been pre-recorded and are being broadcasted through Brunswick TV3, the town’s local channel. Poetry readings from both the high school and the town are scheduled to air at various times on April 27, 28 and 29.
“So many people have been isolated during this that they need a little sunshine and brightness in their day,” Koerber said.
Brunswick Town Council unanimously approved the proclamation for the Poem in Your Pocket day last week. “It is a very worthwhile event that happens every year in this town,” said Council Chairperson John Perreault.
New York City first established Poem in Your Pocket in 2002 as a way to celebrate National Poetry Month, which is April. The Academy of American Poets took the event national in 2008.
In addition to Poem in Your Pocket day, Brunswick also celebrates Longfellow Days, which is a month-long celebration in February of poetry and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was a student and professor at Bowdoin College as well as a famous poet.
According to Pejepscot Historical Center Executive Director Larissa Vigue Picard, Longfellow along with other historical literary figures with ties to Brunswick such as Robert P.T. Coffin, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Harriet Beecher Stowe, have contributed to cementing the town’s strong literary arts community.
Examples of their influence can be seen in Brunswick’s schools, street names and other historical markers that are named after the authors.
“This area is fairly significant with regard to New England literary history and American literary history,” Vigue Picard said.
Vigue Picard said a major reason the area has become known for literary history is due to Bowdoin College, however, the natural environment and sense of place within the region has also served as inspiration for many famous authors.
To view the poetry readings and see the full schedule, visit tv3hd.brunswickme.org.
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