Springside Chestnut Hill fifth grade poets (from left) Asa Sacksteder, Hunter Rexford, Aubrey Carter, Wyatt LaMent and Isaac Okewole, delivered poems to Roots in Chestnut Hill. It was one of more than a dozen stops the boys made to deliver stacks of poems they wrote to be distributed as part of National Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 21. (Photo by Pete Mazzaccaro)

by Pete Mazzaccaro

A group of fifth-grade students at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy were out on Germantown Avenue last Wednesday, April 21, distributing poems as part of Poem in Your Pocket Day.

The group of boys, all students of SCH teacher Allison Thomas, had created packets of pocket-sized poems that could be distributed by shops in Chestnut Hill. Each poem was an original work by one of the students.

Poetry in Your Pocket Day began in 2002 as part of New York City’s celebration of National Poetry Month. In 2008, the initiative was spread to all 50 states by the Academy of American Poets.

The SCH students – Aubrey Carter, Wyatt LaMent, Isaac Okewole, Asa Sacksteder and Hunter Rexford – said they had each put a lot of thought into their subjects in preparation for the poems. The subject matter included flying for spring break, “Jaws,” and the Flyers making the NHL playoffs.

“I was thinking about something people would really get excited about,” Rexford said.” No one would get excited about my ode to Eli Manning. So I decided to write about the Flyers.”

Each of the young poets said they enjoyed the process of coming up with subjects and writing their poems. They were excited, as well, to be published in the sense that their poems would be distributed in Chestnut Hill Shops.

“It’s a fun way to express yourself,” Carter said.