pocket poems

I did a poetry reading last Sunday evening – at the Accent Open Mic event in Montreal. I was honoured to be a ‘featured poet’ and read some poems about toads, rabbits, and green mountains (no surprises there!).

I have been writing a lot of haiku, and developed a process by which I carry a small tin around with a stack of paper and wee nub of a pencil contained therein. When I have a moment of time I write small poems about what I see, where I am, or what I am feeling. At the poetry reading, I shared a stack of these mini poems, and called them “pocket poetry” or “pocket poems” – they are unedited, quickly written, raw poems.

This is a way to capture a moment and the accumulation of these poems is a fun record of life. Poetry and journaling are close cousins, for me. Maybe this can become a thing. I love the idea of lots of people wandering about their world, ready at a moment’s notice to write some pocket poems.

I thought I would share a few here, today.

PS Interestingly, common phrases and themes do emerge when lots of short poems are written. “Fear the full moon” shows up twice, above, yet these pocket poems were written weeks apart. Huh.

PPS Whether these mini poems are haiku is debatable. I find the form and approach does generally resembles free verse haiku. Or maybe not. Who cares, really.

PPPS I know I have been quiet on this blog – it’s not because creative projects are stalled out – quite the opposite – too much on the go! I’ll try to get back on track going forward.

© Christopher M Buddle 2025