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How We Spent Our Poetry at Work Day

By Will Willingham 8 Comments

Sunset Brooklyn Bridge Poetryat Work Day
Even though we’ve been celebrating Poetry at Work Day for five years now, each year is a bit of a surprise. Will we be met with clever poets reminding us all that they are at work every day? (That’s the point, actually, for both poets and the not-so-poetic, that there’s poetry in the workplace every day, not just the special ones where we pay extra attention.) Will we see dozens of would-be haiku lines that take that sudden turn at the end toward “Coffee”? Or will we see, as we do every year, hundreds of different manifestations of people finding a way to lift the poetic in their work, or to bring an extra measure of poetry to the day.

The biggest surprise this year, at least for me, was seeing Poetry at Work Day in the chyron of a local news station. (That’s the digital headline you see at the bottom of your screen.)

Courtesy Desk, now on WGN TV with @PaulKonrad. It's National Poetry at Work Day, see what Paul has in store… #real pic.twitter.com/oHbprWqrHL

— WGNMorningNews (@WGNMorningNews) January 9, 2018

Paul Conrad of WGN morning news had a poem for his colleagues and viewers.

Live from WGN TV. Today is National Poetry at Work Day. Please join me at the WGN Morning News Courtesy Desk. https://t.co/IbkuAJY58j

— Paul Konrad (@PaulKonrad) January 9, 2018

And not to be done by a newsroom in another market, the floor director of Fox 17 in Michigan read his poem in front of a roaring fire. (Things that you can do when you have a whole newsroom at your disposal.)

To celebrate National Poetry at Work Day…somehow Floor Director @mikedavislive added a message from @Nationwide hahaha pic.twitter.com/UfjR9vALaP

— Garry Frank (@GFrankTV) January 9, 2018

Another favorite of mine, which has nothing to do with the news, was the delicious haiku written by the folks at Frango. (Frango means chocolate in many languages.)

It’s #PoetryAtWorkDay, so here’s a haiku for you: pic.twitter.com/7jTzGOnkSe

— Frango (@chocolatefrango) January 9, 2018

The theatre contingent was big this year:

Happy #poetryatworkday!

Here's a little poetic inspiration from our workplace to yours. pic.twitter.com/37EakAybUO

— The Huntington (@huntington) January 9, 2018

"In darkness, smoke comes out of a stack. The sound of auto plant machinery hums and rattles. Hip hop drum beats [J Dilla-inspired] blend into the rhythm – a cacophony of working class hustle."#PoetryAtWorkDay #SkeletonCrew #DominiqueMorisseau #OpeningLines

— Marin Theatre Co (@MarinTheatreCo) January 9, 2018

Libraries, as usual, led the way:

Page by page and stair by stair,
Find a book and a comfy chair.
Get lost in a story or nine,
Or in Cravens' stairwell design.#PoetryAtWorkDay pic.twitter.com/tD8Vvx9rQP

— WKU Libraries (@WKULibraries) January 9, 2018

Today is #PoetryatWorkDay! If you're a state employee, let us deliver some beautiful poetry directly to your desk. Just click on "Place Hold" next to each book to get started! https://t.co/WwEV6qobLh pic.twitter.com/eNJ8ikjXuW

— State Library of FL (@StateLibraryFL) January 9, 2018

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
It's #PoetryAtWorkDay
Just trust us
It's true: https://t.co/jWilL9Qs3W pic.twitter.com/syAnY0pVgF

— MRCPL (@MansRichPL) January 9, 2018

It's #PoetryAtWorkDay! We decided to go with a book spine #haiku.

Waiting for winter.
The most noble adventure
In the falling snow. #UAlbanyLibs #Poetry pic.twitter.com/UQ2XFYAFIs

— UAlbany Libraries (@UAlbanyLibs) January 9, 2018

I think that I shall never see
A place as great as your #library
For #poems profound
And poems sublime
For poems free verse
And poems that rhyme

It's #PoetryatWorkDay pic.twitter.com/J5QbBYDTrD

— Brantford Library (@BtfdLibrary) January 9, 2018

Look what Scholastic was doing:

In celebration of Poetry at Work Day, the Scholastic Awards team shared their favorite poems on the @Scholastic blog. What's your favorite poem? https://t.co/kn8pXHBwWO pic.twitter.com/TyvOXw4VN3

— Scholastic Awards (@artandwriting) January 10, 2018

And there was some participation from both sides of the aisle:

A MAP haiku to celebrate #PoetryAtWorkDay:
Working together
To bridge partisan divides
Across the nation

— Millennial Action (@MActionProject) January 9, 2018

At Veterans United, we're here for you,
Our team will help make your dream come true.
So give us a call or check us out online…
Hey wait, is that a link? I'll take that as a sign!https://t.co/sE5KXeMQhV#PoetryAtWorkDay

— Veterans United (@veteransunited) January 9, 2018

Working for the government
with to-do lists at every turn
But Congress has no budget
so we have no money to burn #poetryatworkday

— Michael R Shipma (@michaelrshipma) January 9, 2018

Poetry and coffee and cafeterias, oh my:

Left some poems at my local coffee shop. I went there to work so logically I had to leave poems for folks to celebrate #PoetryatWorkDay #morepoetrylessstress for all! pic.twitter.com/zl8kEymsbk

— Red Brick Poetry (@BrickPoetry) January 9, 2018

1/3 A #PoetryAtWorkDay salute to food workers, esp. Mehlman's Cafeteria in St. Clairsville, Community Bakery in Little Rock, & @WaffleHouse everywhere.

Food Service

The overseer of meats
at Mehlman's Cafeteria

would plate a slice of meatloaf
when he saw my brother in line.

— Laura Lynn Brown (@lauralynn_brown) January 9, 2018

The Mary Rose was hard at work throughout the day crafting poems about the ship’s very wet (and now dry) fate.

She sank in the Solent, it’s true,
But she was raised in October ’82.
The Mary Rose is much better,
Now she’s not wetter,
So bring the family to Portsmouth to view!#PoetryatWorkDay #poetryatwork pic.twitter.com/IfzcpghWSn

— Mary Rose Support (@MaryRoseSupport) January 9, 2018

If the weather makes you feel blue,
And you're looking for something to do,
Why not visit a museum for an hour, or two?#PoetryatWorkDay #poetryatwork pic.twitter.com/41JtWA1B0K

— Kate Shuttleworth (@KShuttleworthMR) January 9, 2018

While some like to think of Poetry at Work Day as a national celebration, the day is routinely celebrated all over the world. This year we saw participation from all kinds of places:

Krásný den plný poezie 📖 #PoetryatWorkDay Děkujeme za krásnou básničku o princi Albertovi slečně Babetce ❤️ pic.twitter.com/sdqPWUvFJN

— Albert ČR (@albertcesko) January 9, 2018

As Oscar Wilde once said: ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’ Let your mind rummage through the minds of our wordsmiths today! It’s #PoetryAtWorkDay after all! pic.twitter.com/tUY9CxY7hw

— Discover Ireland (@DiscoverIreland) January 9, 2018

#RT @ergosign: ✍️ Zum heutigen #Tag der #Poesie am Arbeitsplatz: ein dankeschön an unser gesamtes Ergosign Team!#ux #design #uidevelopment #uxdevelopment #UserExperience #uxdesign #PoetryatWorkDay #poetry pic.twitter.com/XSPFVynpKI

— Tobias Zapp (@tobizapp) January 9, 2018

Our wonderful neighbors in Canada came along:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I turn on my headlights,
And you should too!#PoetryAtWorkDay #SeeAndBeSeen pic.twitter.com/BavbQpBnzL

— Transport Canada (@Transport_gc) January 9, 2018

No better time will there ever be/
to choose your passwords carefully.
Use a combo of numbers, symbols and letters/
And choose something you won't forgetters (…we did our best) #PoetryatWorkDay

— OPC (@PrivacyPrivee) January 9, 2018

I just like this picture:

"Why should I Iet the toad work squat on my life?" A bit of #PhilipLarkin for #PoetryAtWorkDay. #Poetry #poets #work #Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/RKLhy6ClLi

— IPCallaway (@IanCallaway352) January 9, 2018

Poems remind us to be healthy:

Coughs and sneezes spread diseases, #HandHygiene helps a lot,
With soaps and sanitisers working hard,
What chances have germs got?#PoetryAtWorkDay #Healthcare

— GOJO Healthcare (@GOJO_HCare) January 9, 2018

We had a wonderful reminder of the power of poetry in dealing with dementia:

This #PoetryatWorkDay read about our supporter, Tom, who recorded Shakespeare's 154 sonnets to help us provide specialist dementia nurses for families who urgently need them https://t.co/jjevtOXHBA #CharityTuesday

— Dementia UK (@DementiaUK) January 9, 2018

A poem about plums that is not the poem we usually think of when we think of a poem about plums:

Did you know that today is #PoetryAtWorkDay?

This is a small snippet from a favourite short poem of ours by children's poet Mr Tony Mitton…

"Don't feel so glum, plum. Don't feel beaten. You were made to be eaten."#Poem #Poetry #DayOfTheYear pic.twitter.com/Pu8T6TKWH5

— CCC Finance (@CCC_Finance) January 9, 2018

And it doesn’t take a fan of T.S. Eliot to know that cats will always have a place in poetry:

For #PoetryAtWorkDay

My Office

Surrounded by books
Brimming with cats
I search out the details
and wear many hats. pic.twitter.com/QgdcxQtJnP

— Modern Parlance (@modern_parlance) January 9, 2018

Though if cats aren’t your thing, maybe you like cows:

All around the barnyard, the animals are fast asleep,
Sleeping cows and horses, sleeping pigs and sheep.

Here comes the cocky rooster, to sound his daily alarm,
"Cock-a-doodle-doo! Wake up sleepy farm!" 🐦#PoetryAtWorkDay

— Dairyland Farmworld (@Dairylandfun) January 9, 2018

As always, thanks for celebrating with us. You, and poetry at work, will help make the world a better place.

Photo by Guillén Pérez, Creative Commons license via Flickr.
______________________________
POETRY AT WORK, THE BOOK—BY A FORTUNE 500 LEADER
Free-Ebook-Poetry-at-Work-Cover (1)
Poetry at Work, by Glynn Young, foreword by Scott Edward Anderson

“This book is elemental.”

—Dave Malone

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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 at Work

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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. Laura Brown says

    January 12, 2018 at 11:00 am

    I just love how these days have spread far and wide, and how much fun people seem to have writing verse to participate.

    Reply
  2. Maureen says

    January 12, 2018 at 11:46 am

    Wonderful!

    Reply
  3. L.L. Barkat says

    January 12, 2018 at 11:52 am

    Cats, cows, and chickens. My life feels complete. 😉 🙂

    As always, I love this day. I love how more and more people approach it with open hearts instead of old poetry fears.

    Thanks for your hard work in the festivities. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Bethany R. says

    January 12, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    What a blast. Loved reading through the array of responses to Poetry at Work Day!

    I enjoyed silently reading one poem by Glynn Young and another by Maya Stein during my lunch break in the car. #peacefultransport

    Reply
  5. Kortney Garrison says

    January 12, 2018 at 4:03 pm

    What an amazing collection! Thanks for sharing the day with us!

    Reply
  6. Debbie says

    January 20, 2018 at 9:24 am

    I wrote a fun poem about our workplace and passed it out to everyone.

    Reply
    • Will Willingham says

      January 20, 2018 at 10:21 am

      That is so cool. How did you coworkers respond?

      Reply
      • Debbie says

        January 20, 2018 at 4:53 pm

        They think I’m a little strange, but they liked it.

        Reply

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