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Today is Poetry at Work Day!

By Glynn Young 19 Comments

I can tell you exactly where I was when I first heard poetry at work.

I was in a meeting, sharing a conference room table with seven other people. The meeting was a recurring one – every Wednesday at 9 a.m. The discussion was generally recurring, too; there is indeed nothing new under the sun.

I was restless; I get restless at meetings that ostensibly are about coordination and team buy-in but are really about avoiding blame by distributing responsibility. This particular meeting was a best practice in that regard.

As I listened, I began taking notes, notes in the form of a poem. I didn’t realize what I was doing until I was halfway down the page. It’s not an understatement to say I was surprised; stunned, in fact. I began listening in earnest, not to what was being said but how it was being said.

I had discovered poetry at work. More precisely, I had discovered poetry in work – the poetry that is always there, that had always been there. Like work itself, the poetry of work can rhyme, confuse, be blatantly obvious or maddeningly obscure. It can be as short as a haiku or as long as a Homeric epic. Poetry is in work because it is human and because work is a human activity. We all work – at home, in an office, behind a steering wheel, in front of a classroom, in a field of corn, wearing a badge, aiming a hose at a fire, making coffee, flipping burgers, nursing a sick child, using a keyboard, or a pen. Work is inherent to the human condition.

So is poetry.

We’re celebrating it here at Tweetspeak Poetry, and we’re welcoming you to the celebration. In fact, this is more than a welcome; this is an invitation to take it over and celebrate Poetry at Work Day wherever you are.

Joining us as sponsors this year are Slice Magazine, a Brooklyn-based magazine that publishes established and emerging authors, and Scratch Magazine, a digital magazine about the relationship of writing, money and life.

Here are some celebration resources:

TSP Celebrate bookDownload the free ebook Celebrate Poetry at Work Day–filled with graphics, tips, ideas, articles and poems.

Through today at Noisetrade, you can download a free ebook copy of my book Poetry at Work (which covers just about every way you can find poetry at work–from meetings and PowerPoint presentations to job interviews, vision statements, organization charts and even retirement).

Download a free Poetry at Work Day 2015 poster and put it up wherever you work:

2015 Poetry at Work Day Poster 2015 8.5 x 11

2015 Poetry at Work Day Poster 11×17

The first five people who take a photo of their displayed poster in the workplace will receive a free print copy of Poetry at Work. Just leave a link here in the comments–you can tweet the photo, post it on Facebook or Google+, post it on your blog or wherever streams of electronic atoms are congregating and communicating.

Your celebration can be as simple as taking your favorite poem to work and tacking it to your bulletin board, or reading a poem to friends at lunch. You can find plenty of other ideas by perusing this list of Tweetspeak Poetry articles.

If you celebrate on line, make sure to use the #poetryatworkday hashtag.

But whatever you do, join with us here. Share a poem in the comments. Tell us what you’re doing to celebrate the day. Poetry is meant to be shared; it is not a process to be kept in the closet.

So share with us this day, Jan. 13–Poetry at Work 2015.

Post by Glynn Young, author of the novels Dancing Priest and A Light Shining, and Poetry at Work.

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Glynn Young
Glynn Young
Editor and Twitter-Party-Cool-Poem-Weaver at Tweetspeak Poetry
Glynn Young lives in St. Louis where he retired as the team leader for Online Strategy & Communications for a Fortune 500 company. Glynn writes poetry, short stories and fiction, and he loves to bike. He is the author of the Civil War romance Brookhaven, as well as Poetry at Work and the Dancing Priest Series. Find Glynn at Faith, Fiction, Friends.
Glynn Young
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Filed Under: article, poetry, Poetry at Work, Poetry at Work Day, poetry news

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Comments

  1. Donna says

    January 13, 2015 at 7:22 am

    Happy poetry at work day!

    Carpeted commute,
    Wrapped in quiet house and robe,
    I’m ready (or not).

    Reply
    • Lorrie says

      January 13, 2015 at 8:03 am

      Love that… carpeted commute! I wish 😉

      Reply
      • Donna says

        January 13, 2015 at 4:27 pm

        😉 Thank you Lorrie.

        Reply
  2. Lorrie says

    January 13, 2015 at 8:00 am

    I do have a copy of the poster in my cubical… love it! Tweetspeak has come a long way. Congrats on another year 🙂

    Reply
  3. Maureen Doallas says

    January 13, 2015 at 10:52 am

    A new poem: Poets At Work
    http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2015/01/poets-at-work-poem.html?spref=tw

    Reply
    • Simply Darlene says

      January 15, 2015 at 11:10 am

      maureen, maureen the master
      weaver strings like a boss –
      oh, how you order
      words to slide off
      my tongue. spin
      the pen, play it
      again. leave
      a trail, line
      it up and
      swig it
      down

      Reply
  4. Cassie says

    January 13, 2015 at 11:03 am

    My poems would take up too much of your comment space so I’m linking my poetry page from my website.

    http://cassienweller.weebly.com/poetry

    I’m a stay-at-home mom so my work is here… Living poetry 🙂

    Reply
    • Elizabeth Marshall says

      January 18, 2015 at 11:05 am

      Cassie, welcome to this poetry community. Hope to see you here often. So very nice to meet you 🙂

      Reply
  5. Bernard Kennedy says

    January 13, 2015 at 11:18 am

    Whatever makes poetry accessible
    make unconscious conscious- in a loving way.
    http://www.poemhunter.com/bernard-kennedy/

    Reply
    • Elizabeth Marshall says

      January 18, 2015 at 11:11 am

      Cassie, welcome to this poetry community. Hope to see you here often. So very nice to meet you 🙂

      Reply
    • Elizabeth Marshall says

      January 18, 2015 at 11:13 am

      Bernard, wonderful words on the beauty of poetry. Thank you for sharing them here with us.

      Reply
  6. Richard Maxson says

    January 13, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    A long time ago, I was a carpenter. But I guess once a carpenter, always a carpenter. I had a toolbox that was quite worn then and eventually was replaced. In it were the tools of my trade. This is a poem I wrote for my toolbox, which I came to see as poetic:

    http://theimaginedjay.com/1997/06/

    Reply
  7. SimplyDarlene says

    January 13, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    Here’s my Poetry at Work – both the day and the book.

    Thanks Glynn and TSP!

    http://simplydarlene.com/2015/01/13/chapter-2-poetry-at-work-day/

    Reply
  8. SimplyDarlene says

    January 13, 2015 at 12:57 pm

    my tweeted image link-do:

    https://twitter.com/SimplyDarWrites/status/555045699797016576

    Reply
  9. Violet Nesdoly says

    January 13, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    “January day” is my Poetry-at-work Day contribution to the cause. It’s here:
    http://wp.me/PC77F-vB

    And thanks again, Glynn, for the free download of your book!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth Marshall says

      January 18, 2015 at 11:10 am

      Violet. Welcome. Please come back around again and join in the poetic fun. We’d love to see you here in this community — lots of wonderful offerings daily. Isnt’t Glynn’s book fabulous.

      Reply
  10. Dolly@Soulstops says

    January 13, 2015 at 3:11 pm

    🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Chapter 2 & Poetry At Work Day | SimplyDarlene says:
    January 13, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    […] Tweetspeak Poetry Day, 2015 […]

    Reply
  2. Mark the Mammoth Celebrates Poetry at Work Day - says:
    January 14, 2015 at 8:00 am

    […] have a full wrap-up here tomorrow on all the serious fun that was our 2015 Poetry at Work Day celebration. But today we want to put the spotlight on one warm and woolly fellow who faithfully […]

    Reply

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