• Home
  • Poetry Prompts
  • For Writers
  • Daily Poem-Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Free Stuff + BOOKS
  • Patron Love

Poetry at Work Day, Done Good

By Will Willingham 4 Comments

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 🙂 #poetryatwork tsptry.com/13zJc4M

— tspoetry (@tspoetry) January 15, 2013

 

Photo by Mac.RJ, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Will Willlingham.
________________

Buy a year of Every Day Poems, just $5.99 — Read a poem a day, become a better poet. In January we’re exploring the theme Coffee and Tea.

Every Day Poems Driftwood

Poetry at Work-Hot

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Will Willingham
Follow Will
Will Willingham
Director of Many Things; Senior Editor, Designer and Illustrator at Tweetspeak Poetry
I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel, Adjustments, is available now.
Will Willingham
Follow Will
Latest posts by Will Willingham (see all)
  • Book Club Announcement: The Reindeer Chronicles - January 11, 2021
  • Adjustments Excerpt: The Dinner Party - September 9, 2020
  • Poet Laura: Difficult to Forecast - August 26, 2020

Related

❤️✨ Sharing is caring

Filed Under: Blog, poetry and business, Poetry at Work, Poetry at Work Day, poetry news, work poems

About Will Willingham

I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel, Adjustments, is available now.

Comments

  1. L.L. Barkat says

    January 18, 2013 at 12:10 pm

    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 🙂

    Reply
  2. Maureen Doallas says

    January 18, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    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.

    Reply
  3. Maureen Doallas says

    January 18, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    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/

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Serious Fun: How We Spent Take Your Poet to Work Day | says:
    July 19, 2013 at 8:58 am

    […] In fact, our site first started as a result of joking between friends. We operate under a banner of Self-Fulfilling Comedy. So much so that when in the midst of a virtual staff meeting on a Monday morning, an editor cracks […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our January Menu.

Keep the World Poetic

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world thoughtful and poetic.

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Join the Poetry Club

Join the poetry club, when you become a subscriber to Every Day Poems ✨

The classic—Now a Graphic Novel!

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

Recent Comments

  • Dave Malone on Generosity with Self: When You’re In The Wrong Story
  • Stephanie Dulli on Great Gatsby Fashion: Jay Gatsby Goes to Goodwill
  • Callie Feyen on Generosity with Self: When You’re In The Wrong Story
  • Sandra Heska King on Generosity with Self: When You’re In The Wrong Story

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Join Tweetspeak Poetry

Categories

Explore Work From Black Poets

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

Free Printable Poet Bios

Browse all poet bios now

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

About Us

  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • How to Write Form Poems-Infographics
  • • Poetry Club Tea Date
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • A Ritual to Read to Each Other
  • • Best Love Poetry
  • • Book Club
  • • Children’s Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Literary Analysis
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • VerseWrights Journal
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Give the Gift of Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2021 Tweetspeak Poetry · Site by The Willingham Enterprise · FAQ & Disclosure