Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day!

The Brownies have a little saying about things in their pockets.

"I've got something in my pocket that belongs across my face.
I keep it very close to me in a most convenient place.
I bet you'd never guess it if you guessed a long, long time.
So I'll take it out and put it on. It's a great big Brownie smile."

A tad disturbing, no? You can imagine the jokes that the 5th grade boys would tell about it.

The Girl Scout motto is less disturbing, but I remember it just as well, I'm just not going to share it right now. I do, however, wish I had some Girl Scout Cookies in my pocket.

Here's one of my favorite poems by Marge Piercy, "A Work of Artifice." I use it in classes after reading Ibsen's A Doll's House. It's a perfect fit, really.

from "A Work of Artifice"

Every day as he
whittles back the branches
the gardener croons,
It is your nature
to be small and cozy,
domestic and weak;
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in.