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
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
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!
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)
A totally cool wall!
Still another totally cool wall!
The bus!
The book! (so meta)
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.)
The washroom!
The grocery!
A fire hydrant!
China Town!
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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Matthew Kreider says
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.
LW Lindquist says
Matthew, I didn’t realize that was yours from last year. How fun. 🙂
L.L. Barkat says
All the more remarkable that it was actually found and posted by someone else entirely, Matthew. That is SO cool! 🙂
Michael Gowin says
Great fun to see how others shared poetry yesterday—thanks for the wrap-up.
Donna Falcone says
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!
Sandra Heska King says
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.