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Random Sample: A Wrap-Up of Random Acts of Poetry Day

By Will Willingham 8 Comments

Random Acts of Poetry Day kids lined up at beach
We consider that part of our reason for being in the world is to help paint poetry in the public square. Whether literally or figuratively, we believe that as much as poetry is a fine intimate pursuit, it also has its place in public spaces. This aim is at the heart of three of the public days for poetry we sponsor and celebrate, but perhaps no more so than with Random Acts of Poetry Day.

Yesterday, folks around the globe recited poems in meetings and around tables and in locker rooms and dance class, chalked poetry onto the sidewalk and stuck it under windshield wipers, paired it with cupcakes and performed it before government bodies. Most of it made us smile. Some of it made us chortle (that’s sort of like chuckling, but with poetic cupcake in your mouth).

Here’s a random sample of some of the random acts of poetry we saw yesterday. (And if you missed out on the day, or just didn’t quite get enough of it, you can extend the celebration and “say it with a poem” along with our friends across the pond at Forward Arts Foundation and today’s National Poetry Day.)

The Poetic Juror

Forget the Rural Juror. One of our team got called for jury duty this week, and took Random Acts of Poetry straight into the courthouse. Tip for future jurors: cameras (and firearms, we imagine) will be confiscated, but your quiet little poets on popsicle sticks will make it through the body scanners just fine.

"while I pondered weak and weary" —Edgar Juror Poe#juryduty #raopoetryday pic.twitter.com/fu8jEgqCJI

— Every Day Poems (@EDayPoems) October 5, 2016

"indifferent to idle speculation you and I" —Rumi J. Juror#juryduty #raopoetryday pic.twitter.com/SOcJOeikyo

— Every Day Poems (@EDayPoems) October 5, 2016

"Tell all the truth but tell it slant" —Emily Juror Dickinson#juryduty #raopoetryday pic.twitter.com/T2onafSQHM

— Every Day Poems (@EDayPoems) October 5, 2016

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" —T. S. Juror Eliot#juryduty #raopoetryday pic.twitter.com/Sb6m1YmGVg

— Every Day Poems (@EDayPoems) October 5, 2016

"Since there is no escape" —Sara Juror Teasdale#juryduty #raopoetryday pic.twitter.com/z8otJnUGPx

— Every Day Poems (@EDayPoems) October 5, 2016

But poetry didn’t randomly stop at the courthouse. In Thunder Bay, folks at City Hall performed poetry before the council meeting.

Random Acts of Poetry takes floor, says creative population can address city's strengths & challenges. pic.twitter.com/vpHtRHBklS

— Jon Thompson (@JonSThompson) October 3, 2016

Some folks wisely took poetry on their random trip to the DMV.

A random act of #poetry for #RAOPOETRYDAY @tspoetry pic.twitter.com/oC0AeBpPlZ

— Michael Gowin (@mgowin) October 5, 2016

One of my favorite poems by Robert Frost. @tspoetry #poetry #raopoetryday #raopoetryday2016 pic.twitter.com/W4xS95SDe0

— Michael Gowin (@mgowin) October 5, 2016

A poem at the DMV (Lee Gurga)#poetry #raopoetryday #raopoetryday2016 #haiku pic.twitter.com/Y991zihJ4D

— Michael Gowin (@mgowin) October 5, 2016

And St. Louis city employees were treated to award winning 7th grade poetry:

All offices in the City Hall of the City of St. Louis received a donated 2016 #7GP winning student's #poem on the Random Acts of Poetry Day

— 7th Grade Poetry Fnd (@7thgradepoetry) October 5, 2016

The Scholar Poet

Turns out yesterday was also World Teachers Day. Teacher Stacy Goddard challenged her students to go public with poetry and they shared their activities all over Twitter.

#RAOPOETRYDAY @GoddardStacy pic.twitter.com/oLLIVeJWoD

— Syrus (@syrus_herz) October 5, 2016

#RAOPOETRYDAY @GoddardStacy pic.twitter.com/p8aqUhfIhD

— Katie Horton (@katiehorton28) October 5, 2016

Would you like a poem with those fries? ("Hunger" by Robert Laurence Binyon) #RAOPOETRYDAY @GoddardStacy pic.twitter.com/8l4mJazVBN

— Casey Gardner (@caseygardnerr) October 5, 2016

Natalie's answers the movie question on the board at @caribou_social with Disney poem. #RAOPOETRYDAY pic.twitter.com/AgJEYQCLXt

— stacygoddard (@GoddardStacy) October 5, 2016

Bringing hope to English classes since 1998. @GoddardStacy #RAOPOETRYDAY #APLit pic.twitter.com/ui5FARRzvN

— Brock Kaufmann (@brock_kaufmann) October 5, 2016

#RAOPOETRYDAY @GoddardStacy I shared "The Victory Dance" with the dance team!! pic.twitter.com/46b2W8lGIx

— Maddi Pehrson (@MaddiPehrson) October 5, 2016

#RAOPOETRYDAY @GoddardStacy pic.twitter.com/fPKolWwYqi

— Lauren Kirk (@lauren_kirk10) October 5, 2016

Just cause I love dogs! #RAOPOETRYDAY @GoddardStacy pic.twitter.com/RU1PbkETK0

— Hayley M. (@hmcghee2718) October 5, 2016

Check out Stacy’s Twitter stream for more her students’ activities. We saw all kinds of other random school poetry:

High school Biology class on the receiving end of a random act of poetry. #raopoetryday @tspoetry pic.twitter.com/Jf6rnf9yBA

— Heather Eure (@heathereure) October 5, 2016

Some random acts of poetry from @MsMarro_OA and @msannunziato advisory kiddos!!! pic.twitter.com/gS8eTA6Uk5

— Ms. Marro (@MsMarro_OA) October 5, 2016

#raopoetryday #wmsone

A photo posted by Emily Finley (@ekfinwms) on Oct 5, 2016 at 12:22pm PDT

Random acts of poetry feels so good combined with #WorldTeachersDay. @tspoetry

— Claudia Rojas (@Clau_documented) October 5, 2016

Happy random acts of poetry day! These made my day. #raopoetryday #bekind #WMSOne pic.twitter.com/i7dKNaBEzI

— Ross Ricenbaw (@WavMSPrincipal) October 5, 2016

Cupcake Poetry

Like we always say (actually, we’ve never said this, but we should start saying it immediately), nothing paints poetry in the public square like cupcakes. Really. How could we have missed this before?

GO TO BUNNIE CAKES FOR CUTE LIL POEMS WITH YOUR CUPCAKE ? @tspoetry @Kavetchnik @MiaArtsCharter @MARIBUNNIECAKES #raopoetryday #bunniecakes pic.twitter.com/pSzjTRNK3w

— Nina ➳ (@Nina_112202) October 5, 2016

@tspoetry @kavetchnik @miaartscharter @maribunniecakes #creativewriting #miamiartscharter #raopoetryday #tspoetry #cupcakepoems pic.twitter.com/M5FhuwPspL

— •serena l• (@SerenaL1206) October 5, 2016

#raopoetryday #bunniecakes #tspoetry #miamiartscharterschool #creativewriting #cupcakepoems ?#homeworkisfun ?@msbunniecakes @tspoetry @kavetchnik @randomactsofpoetry #randomactsofpoetryday#peacelove&cupcakes #cupcakesfordays

A photo posted by Ava (@avaclaus) on Oct 5, 2016 at 2:25pm PDT

What goes together better than #RandomActsofPoetry and #BunnieCakes? Nothing! Visit Wednesday, October 5 to purchase delicious and poetic treats. #cupcakepoems #raopoetryday #MiamiArtsCharterSchool #creativewriting

A photo posted by Jen Karetnick (@kavetchnik) on Oct 4, 2016 at 8:48pm PDT

Random Random

And here are all those other poetic utterances that don’t fit into any of my neat category but made a splash wherever they landed.

The neighbors!

I just committed a Random Act of #Poetry. 🙂 Slipped a homemade card into a neighbor's mailbox! https://t.co/2GafTDDVUy… #RAOPOETRYDAY pic.twitter.com/1OpsuZksmu

— Donna Z Falcone (@BrighterSideBlg) October 5, 2016

The desk!

@coffmanoahs #RAOPOETRYDAY pic.twitter.com/hRdF5LefZr

— Kayley (@kk_donze) October 5, 2016

The chipmunk!

A little lunchtime randomness for #raopoetryday. Yes, it's a poem about a chipmunk. #chipmunksmakegreatpoems

A photo posted by Charity Craig (@charitysingletoncraig) on Oct 5, 2016 at 10:49am PDT

The wall!

@coffmanoahs Blind World by Prachi Agrawal #raopoetryday ???? pic.twitter.com/KwzRx4eb1b

— sofia t !!! (@hii_itss_soapp) October 5, 2016

Another wall! (I love this little poem placement)

You know this place. #raopoetryday #raopoetryday2016 #poetsofkuching #randomactsofpoetry

A photo posted by Georgette Tan (@georgettetan) on Oct 5, 2016 at 9:57am PDT

A totally cool wall!

This was me last week putting up a poem early for Random Acts of Poetry Day 2016. It's still holding up pretty well cept someone leaned on a couple of lines at the bottom and rubbed it out. #raopoetryday #raopoetryday2016 #randomactsofpoetry #poetsofkuching #Repost @calligraphyaf with @repostapp ・・・ Chalking the wall at @indahhousekuching – a time lapse. #chalkcalligraphy #calligraphyaf #raopoetryday #calligraphy

A video posted by Georgette Tan (@georgettetan) on Oct 5, 2016 at 10:25am PDT

Today's project! . #Repost @calligraphyaf with @repostapp ・・・ Big chalking project at @indahhousekuching today! I asked if I could put a poem there for #raopoetryday and they said I could. Thanks Trudy and Colin! #calligraphyaf #calligraphy #chalkcalligraphy

A photo posted by Georgette Tan (@georgettetan) on Sep 29, 2016 at 11:08pm PDT

Still another totally cool wall!

People can be more than one thing and still be whole. Life is not black or white, one or the other. The Universe is a jumbled mass of chaos and beauty. So why should I be any different?

A photo posted by Bethany Balan (@bee.balan) on Oct 5, 2016 at 3:52am PDT

The bus!

#buspoetry #raopoetryday

A photo posted by Randy Henderson (@henderson.randy) on Oct 5, 2016 at 1:38pm PDT

The book! (so meta)

Today is Random Acts of Poetry Day. I slipped excerpts of my poems into books at a library. Here's a snapshot of one. #raopoetryday #poet #poem #stanza #random #library #books #literature #miracle #raopoetryday2016 #chapter #writing

A photo posted by Angelina Bong (@swakgel) on Oct 5, 2016 at 12:12am PDT

A bagel! (One of my favorite poems. Okay, sorry, this one was from last year, but I missed it then, so I had to roll it back in for 2016.)

Not sure when #raopoetryday was, but I still appreciate this.

A photo posted by Wendy Sawatzky (@wendysawatzky) on Oct 15, 2015 at 10:30pm PDT

The washroom!

This is going to some female washroom somewhere #randomactsofpoetry #raopoetryday #mayaangelou #phenomenalwoman

A photo posted by 思·寧 (@szelyn) on Oct 4, 2016 at 4:57pm PDT

The grocery!

Grocery poetry #raopoetryday

A photo posted by Randy Henderson (@henderson.randy) on Oct 5, 2016 at 5:18am PDT

A fire hydrant!

#raopoetryday

A photo posted by Randy Henderson (@henderson.randy) on Oct 5, 2016 at 2:26pm PDT

China Town!

Original can't be replaced. Real can't be duplicated. When you try to package authenticity for the masses, it ends up looking like white people with Iban ink on their red necks calling the bunga terung a "Borneo Rose" when roses… don't even grow in Borneo, bro.

A photo posted by Bethany Balan (@bee.balan) on Oct 5, 2016 at 4:12am PDT

Coffee sleeves!

First of the day! Left among the coffee sleeves at a cafe…#raopoetryday pic.twitter.com/MMRMH5ESrS

— Tia Shearer (@SuperFamousTia) October 5, 2016

It’s a Wrap

If anything says Random Acts of Poetry, this might be it right here. To drop a poem at random in a construction zone not knowing who might find it, who might need it. This is the very heart of this very special day.

Third of the day: dropped in a construction zone walkway#raopoetryday pic.twitter.com/XoC4hR3Zlj

— Tia Shearer (@SuperFamousTia) October 5, 2016

Photo by Pai-Shih Lee, via Flickr. All rights reserved; used with permission.

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Will Willingham
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 is Adjustments.
Will Willingham
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Filed Under: Blog, poetry, random acts of poetry

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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 is Adjustments.

Comments

  1. Matthew Kreider says

    October 6, 2016 at 8:57 am

    Best one yet! Well done. So wonderful to see all the poesy on the streets.

    And I did somersaults again this morning when I saw the ‘Bagel’ poem pop up in your wrap up. I taped that poem to a pole for last year’s celebration. I’m glad someone found it.

    There’s always joy when someone finds poetry. And that’s kind of what this celebration is all about.

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      October 6, 2016 at 9:25 am

      Matthew, I didn’t realize that was yours from last year. How fun. 🙂

      Reply
      • L.L. Barkat says

        October 6, 2016 at 12:01 pm

        All the more remarkable that it was actually found and posted by someone else entirely, Matthew. That is SO cool! 🙂

        Reply
  2. Michael Gowin says

    October 6, 2016 at 9:31 am

    Great fun to see how others shared poetry yesterday—thanks for the wrap-up.

    Reply
  3. Donna Falcone says

    October 6, 2016 at 9:45 am

    This was so much fun! I didn’t realize I’d missed so many until I read this… 🙂

    And this…. like chuckling, but with poetic cupcake in your mouth…. made me laugh out loud. HA!

    Reply
  4. Sandra Heska King says

    October 7, 2016 at 8:16 am

    These are awesome. I hated that our day here was so “movingly” chaotic. But it will be fun to go back through and relish all these random words and gather ideas for next year.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Confessions of Poetry - says:
    November 9, 2016 at 8:00 am

    […] have a confession to make: on Random Acts of Poetry Day, I printed out 20 copies of a chipmunk poem and then actually handed out only one copy. And by […]

    Reply
  2. Confessions of Poetry - Charity Singleton Craig says:
    January 16, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    […] have a confession to make: on Random Acts of Poetry Day, I printed out 20 copies of a chipmunk poem and then actually handed out only one copy. And by […]

    Reply

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