Here at Tweetspeak, we take our joking very seriously. We have a name for it, in fact: Self-Fulfilling Comedy. That’s the way Tweetspeak itself and her sister, WordCandy.me were born, really, in the delivery room of joking between friends.
This week, comedy fulfilled itself once more. One minute some folks on the team were bantering, and the next we were notifying the calendrical powers that be of our intention to stake out a certain Tuesday in January as Poetry at Work Day. Before we knew it, we had published articles, circulated press releases, and baked chocolate chips into an infographic to announce to the world that we believe poetry is there to be found in our workplaces–whether in an office or restaurant, assembly line or construction site, supermarket or family kitchen.
When January 15 popped up on the calendar, we called on you to celebrate with us by finding and sharing poetry at work. Thanks to our kind friends at Huffington Post and Books and Culture, along with a little help from Book Patrol, Publishers Weekly and others who spread the word, Poetry at Work Day found its way into workplaces all over the country. Well, from what we found in our Twitter feed, we think it’s fair to say all over the world.
We had more fun than a chicken on a stack of poetry books. Here’s a sampling of how some people celebrated the day.
Some wrote poetry of their own, from full length poems to email by Haiku:
Brilliant
// “@chicpoetics: @tspoetry #PoetryAtWork emailed co-workers only in 5-7-5″
— tspoetry (@tspoetry) January 16, 2013
@llbarkat Here ya go – an experiment for Poetry at Work Day: “I’ll Call Her Gladys (Demise of a Family Business)” andtheotherthingis.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/ill…
— J.B. Wood (@shrinkingcamel) January 15, 2013
How stars slim down:/no red velvet cupcakes/in the cart #poetryatwork (part of my work today: grocery shopping)
— L.L. Barkat (@llbarkat) January 15, 2013
Others noted that poetry at work is an every day thing. And we love that idea:
“@huffingtonpost: Happy Poetry at Work Day! huff.to/ZTpL24” isn’t this everyday for you @frescagootz ?
— Shari Reiter (@itsSharrr) January 15, 2013
RT @kikivonglinow: Rats! I worked at home today RT @huffingtonpost Happy Poetry at Work Day! huff.to/ZTpL24 / work at home counts!
— tspoetry (@tspoetry) January 15, 2013
January is really not kidding about the spring thing this year. My #poetryatwork is this delightfully #confu instagr.am/p/UhnZ1mpD2b/
— Kelly Sauer (@kellysauer) January 16, 2013
Poetry at Work: Poetry at Work Day: tweetspeakpoetry.com/2013/01/15/poe… [This is good - says the poetry is already there]
— John Ross Barnes (@BarnestormJohn) January 15, 2013
We loved the poems that you wrote from work:
#PoetryatWork: Spam faxes fly off the copier/like doves flying in the air/if the doves/were selling crappy time shares. @tspoetry
— Jonathan Shipley (@shipleywriter) January 15, 2013
“We stand in the rain in a long line waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work…” #poetryatwork tiny.cc/rwoyqw @tspoetry
— Kingston Library (@knglibrary) January 15, 2013
Loving #poetryatwork day while hanging art for tomorrow’s art show! Found poetry hanging on the walls for inspiration! twitter.com/ArtfulLawyer/s…
— The Artful Lawyer (@ArtfulLawyer) January 15, 2013
Reboot.
// RT @warrent913: #PoetryatWork – Tech Support Haiku – Support call comes in/Didn’t read the manual/Here’s a PDF
— tspoetry (@tspoetry) January 15, 2013
#HAIKU DXXV ~ elemental| laughter of children | periodic table ~ facebook.com/1pauses/posts/… @tspoetry #poetryatwork #tsptry
— Dan Haase (@dthaase) January 15, 2013
Not to be outdone by those who found poetry at work, some folks found poetry at lunch:
@tspoetry @huffpostbooks @monicasharman @gyoung9751 I celebrated #PoetryAtWork day with Madeline L’Engle’s “The Ordering of Love” at lunch.
— Joy Messimer (@memoriaarts) January 17, 2013
Wondering what to do over your lunch hour or afternoon break? Got it taken care of, j.mp/10x3wEZ! # PoetryAtWork
— Des Moines Library (@dmpl) January 15, 2013
Anna Broadway wrote a thoughtful article on #workhaiku at Books and Culture just in time for Poetry at Work Day.
RT @edaypoems: “any art form—in order to thrive—must exist at all levels of society” • #poetryatworkbooksandculture.com/articles/webex…
— tspoetry (@tspoetry) January 15, 2013
Some people are ahead of their time, and actually celebrated without knowing it.
Hey, it’s Poetry At Work Day! And I actually wrote some poetry at work before I knew this. Go, me, go!… fb.me/1EXC9368B
— Jessica McHugh (@theJessMcHugh) January 15, 2013
And while HuffPo might say the movement has yet to take off nationally, it is not lost on us that it was celebrated across the globe. From Madrid:
It’s Poetry At Work Day! (carteles chulísimos) huff.to/11x28Sg via @huffpostbooks cc @palomabravo #PoetryAtWork
— Belén Bermejo (@BelenBermejo) January 15, 2013
From Del pueblo de Montefrío, Granada:
Magnífico: “Happy Poetry at Work Day!” huff.to/ZTpL24, vía @huffingtonpost
— Verónica N.Я. Moreno (@veronerea) January 15, 2013
And from Dublin:
I want to live in a world where poetry graces the sides of buses, trains, planes and walls. Huffington Post does too: huff.to/Vplqof?
— Claire Burge (@claireburge) January 17, 2013
Sadly, the chickens ate the cookies we meant to send in appreciation.
@tspoetry Damn chickens
— HuffPost Books (@HuffPostBooks) January 15, 2013
And to @coffeephilosoph and all those who fretted the slightest bit that they missed the official Poetry at Work Day, we remind you that there is always tomorrow, there’s always next January, and there is always poetry at work.
@coffeephilosoph There’s always tomorrow
— tspoetry (@tspoetry) January 15, 2013
Photo by Mac.RJ, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Lyla Willlingham Lindquist.
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I love this. You are making me laugh all over again.
And I *love* that Spain and Ireland got in on the act! Next year? Let’s shoot for Hong Kong
So, it’s true: Poetry can be used to conquer the world of work!
The first TSP-sponsored virtual chicken to do an Irish jig or perform a Spanish fandango gets to go to the Spam Festival. And make that hen’s spoken word performance the draw for 2014.
I shared this on Twitter with Glynn. Perhaps others would enjoy reading it: ‘T.S. Eliot: Employee of the Month’:
http://www.full-stop.net/2013/01/15/blog/robert-fay/t-s-eliot-employee-of-the-month/