1. Subscribe to a poem-a-day email service
It’s hard to ignore when it’s in your face, plus who doesn’t love convenient?
Here are a couple of tried-and-true organizations offering poetry in your inbox:
Don’t want more email? Try #4 below (don’t cheat and skip #2 and #3, though, I totally worked hard on those).
2. Read poetry to your children (dogs, neighbors, whatever)
A research study showed this is one of the ways modern, older (aka middle-aged farts like me) poetry-lovers who don’t read so much poetry anymore actually take the time to incorporate poetry into their lives. That same research also showed that children who were exposed to poetry at an early age are more likely to grow up to love poetry as adults! So get movin’.
Below is is a completely random and definitely incomplete list of poets whose work may be incorporated into your kids’ bedtime routine (or let’s face it, your own). Some pages include links to poems, scroll down if you don’t see them after you click through!
- Jack Prelutsky
- Langston Hughes
- Maya Angelou
- AA Milne (he’s a poet, didja know it?)
- Gwendolyn Brooks
- William Makepeace Thackeray
- Rudyard Kipling
- Christina Rosetti
- Or just browse a few here or here.
3. Listen to audio poetry while adulting.
Multi-tasking is every modern person’s best friend, right? Or at least us busy types. I’m not one of those people who can listen to music or podcasts while doing any kind of thought-engagement (like work or homework — unlike my son, who enjoyed listening to Skrillex while doing Calculus homework???). But if I’m just doing housework or running errands, that is time just begging to be filled with some spoken word poetry.
- The OverDrive app offers a free way to check out audio books from your library and be read to.
- Many reputable magazines offer poetry podcasts like The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, and Poetry Foundation.
- There are a couple of lists of top recommended podcasts here and here (they seem to corroborate each other, which is nice).
4. “Like” an active poetry Page on your favorite social media channel!
Let’s face it, you’re probably on Facebook almost every day like much of humanity and Cambridge Analytica. Why not make use of that time to get notifications about poetry?
Here are a few Pages that popped up in a search I just did. Simply “Like” one or more (or find your own) and you’re on your way to more poetry every day!
- Button Poetry
- Poetry Foundation & Poetry Magazine
- The Poetry Barn
- Glass Poetry Press
- Beloit Poetry Journal
- Poetry Slam, Inc.
Note, I vetted these to be sure actual poems or videos of spoken word were included and easily located on the Page. No just-memes for you, I love you too much for that.
Second note, I speak English, so these are English-speaking Pages, but you can do a Pages search on Facebook and find many more on different types of poetry, different themes, in different languages, etc.
If you’re not a fan of Facebook, try following your favorite poets on Twitter or Instagram instead!
5. Put your fave poetry books in the bathroom.
I’m not even kidding. You know what to do, and when.
samara powers poetry 