Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day” and Marge Piercy’s “A Work of Artifice” were two of the 31 poems handpicked to give to students Thursday, April 27, and Friday, April 28, for Poem In Your Pocket Day. The Office of the New York City Mayor initiated the holiday in 2002, and it is now celebrated across the country.

Archer celebrated the holiday by having teachers hand out poems to students in their English classes Thursday and Friday. If the student received a poem that had a pink heart on it, that student earned a free copy of Archer‘s literary magazine, Pillars of Salt. 

English teacher, Pillars of Salt adviser and Poetry Out Loud Coordinator Kathleen Keelty worked alongside senior Coco Greene to coordinate the day’s poetry celebration. 

Keelty started celebrating the national holiday in 2005 and brought it to Archer in 2019 through her creative writing class. In 2019, the students in Keelty’s class stood on the front steps of the veranda and passed out poems to students arriving at school.

“It’s such a cool experience to have somebody hand you a poem to keep in your pocket all day,” Keelty said. “If something comes up that day, and you’re like, ‘Oh wait, I have this poem that would fit this situation perfectly right,’ it is super cool.” 

Spanish and French teacher Sara Gil Sáiz started her Spanish 3 class with a poem by Gloria Fuentes, who is her favorite poet. Her class has been learning about the subjunctive mode, which was incorporated in the poem.

“Ms. Keelty was giving away poems, which was such a great idea, so I decided to do the same,” Gil Sáiz said. “The poem talked about spring. It uses the subjunctive, which is perfect for my classes. It was the perfect poem.”

Keelty had this year’s creative writing students each pick poems they admired and wanted to share with the community. There were 11 poems deemed appropriate for middle school and around 20 for upper school. Many teachers also incorporated poems in their lesson plans. 

“I’m so excited,” Keelty said. “I gave poems to teachers and administrators if I saw them today, and I got an email from Dr. Nesbitt that said he was inspired to start his class with a poem today, so it’s really fun.” 

Rachel Chung (‘25) is a Spanish 3 student in Gil Sáiz’s class. She said she enjoyed starting the class off with a poem and loved being handed a poem in her English class too, which was about nature, rain and the earth. 

“Our teacher Ms. Rubin went around the room and gave us each a poem. It was really great to be able to get a poem,” Chung said. “It connects the community through words and literature.”