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How We Spent Our Take Your Poet to Work Day

By Will Willingham 3 Comments

Take Your Poet to Work Day Bird Bath

For years, researchers have tried to understand the connection between the third Wednesday in July and the spike in workplace happiness. Now, at last, with the release of the double-blind Sweet Sticky Popsicle study initiated in 2012, Tweetspeak scientists have finally confirmed the inexplicable joy radiating from thousands of poet cutouts found in backpacks and briefcases, on desktops and laptops, even in cupcakes, coffee cups and blue jean pockets.

“It was really quite remarkable,” said one worker from the insurance industry who asked to remain anonymous for fear a colleague might steal John Keats from his pocket protector. “All day long I just felt so certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections, like a thing of beauty could be, well, a joy forever.”

We’ve condensed the data from this year’s study and offer some of the happiest highlights from around the Web:

Some of these poets, the scientists found, like to insinuate themselves into every situation.

For Take Your Poet to Work Day, Mary Oliver wanted to go to #MIN124 #TakeYourPoetToWorkDay pic.twitter.com/LnnWxLMq5d

— Janet Egan (@hammerchick) July 17, 2019

Libraries seem to be the epicenter of poet-on-a-stick activity (including my childhood library in Hennepin County).

A late entry from our Take Your Poet to Work Day: Periodicals specialist Erika S. getting contemplative with a trio of haiku masters! https://t.co/dSPpss0WXu pic.twitter.com/NnWmPnodAD

— CSCC Library (@CSCC_Library) July 18, 2019

Mary Oliver came with us to work today. She heard it was also World Emoji Day and wanted to share this with you:
✨
Keep some room in your 💘 for the unimaginable.
✨#PoetToWork#WorldEmojiDay #TakeYourPoetToWork pic.twitter.com/oZoGgJDuLF

— Hennepin County Library (@hclib) July 17, 2019

#TakeYourPoetToWorkDay @KCLibrary!! Haiku for me and you! pic.twitter.com/HGqksEfSkb

— Nicoya (@nicoyasmiles) July 17, 2019

Did you know that today is #TakeYourPoetToWorkDay? Swing on by #PHSCNorthCampus #library to check out this book on writing and reading #poetry — PN1042 .M34 2001 #PHSCLibraries #BoTD #poettowork pic.twitter.com/qZrtxBrtYN

— PHSC Libraries (@PHSCLibraries) July 17, 2019

Wednesday, July 17th is Take Your Poet to Work Day! We hope @cscc_edu staff & students will stop by the 2nd floor of the Library to select a poet to color in and show off. pic.twitter.com/3iu4jDXa0C

— CSCC Library (@CSCC_Library) July 15, 2019

Some poets love to be around art. It seems they like to be made happy too.

#takeyourpoettoworkday @tspoetry pic.twitter.com/rwc7XNG4q4

— Dave Malone (@dzmalone) July 17, 2019

It can become worrisome from time to time when it seems the poet might be after your job. But the researchers have assured us it only lasts for a day.

Mary Oliver set this rule for her day as a nurse: She doesn’t do shots. But she did agree to choose a bandage. And the patient took the picture. #poettowork #takeyourpoettoworkday @tspoetry

More here: https://t.co/wuxIr8Dsco pic.twitter.com/D5vRat03Q2

— SandraHeskaKing (@SandraHeskaKing) July 17, 2019

Will is helping me tend the Monarch caterpillars today for #takeyourpoettowork day–tis fair and pleasant work! #poettowork pic.twitter.com/qKr2UrByx4

— Red Brick Poetry™ (@BrickPoetry) July 18, 2018

Though perhaps the emojis should be concerned, if the poets are coming for their jobs too.

Because emojis are overrated, did you know it's #TakeYourPoetToWorkDay ? Respect for the poets! #writers

This is an old post below, but I would hang out with Elizabeth today. https://t.co/ztCiWyuD6E

— Shel M. (@thatwordychick) July 17, 2019

Who knew a full takeover by poets could be so joy-inducing?

So, according to the good people over @tspoetry today is “Take Your Poet to Work Day.” (I didn’t even know this was a thing.)

In the end, I chose (l-r): Pablo Neruda, Sara Teasdale, and ee cummings.

Look them up!!#takeyourpoettoworkday #poettowork #poettoworkday pic.twitter.com/BEy2bo9V2H

— John Garcia (@spartans1855) July 17, 2019

And some folks just couldn’t choose their favorite.

On #TakeYourPoetToWorkDay, which @FFXNetwork @FFXMTA guest would you choose: @JanetWongauthor; @KwameAlexander; #KalliDakos? Visit our YouTube Channel for archived videos of “Meet the Author” visits at https://t.co/Wf0S2JAyKl. pic.twitter.com/3iRnVbPiKk

— Fairfax Network (@FFXNetwork) July 17, 2019

And, as they say, let them eat cake.

Take Your Poet To Work Day — Cake Wrecks: https://t.co/ftS0tyhQiN

— pops (@pops131) July 17, 2019

(It’s okay. We had you covered.)

Happy Take Your Poet to Work Day! Have you taken your poet to work today? If not, I AM EMBARRASSED BY YOUR LACK OF PREPARATION https://t.co/qglDKUgVpS

— Jack Miller (@x_hj_x) July 17, 2019

Some sightings baffled even our researchers.

Happy Take Your Poet to Work Day! https://t.co/siW8rlcH5j

— Michael Kerr (@HumoratWork) July 17, 2019

Coming to a theater near you. Maybe.

For Take Your Poet to Work Day, see why the life of the poet William Cowper, author of hymns like There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood an God Moves In A Mysterious Way, should be an inspirational movie. #WednesdayWisdom #WednesdayMotivation https://t.co/RSsi1LiHyI

— ThatShouldBeAMovie (@ShouldBeAMoive) July 17, 2019

The much beloved late Mary Oliver made appearances in many workplaces this year.

Mary Oliver has some words to consider on Take Your Poet to Work Day:

“Listen. Are you breathing and calling it a life?”

"There is nothing more pathetic than caution
when headlong might save a life,
even, possibly, your own.”#takeyourpoettoworkday #poetry #poets @tspoetry pic.twitter.com/E2wPf7GEXC

— Prasanta Verma (@pathoftreasure) July 17, 2019

As did always creepily popular Poe.

Take Your Poet to Work, part II. "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe. I love how this turned out with the extra detail and exaggeration! @tspoetry #PoetToWork #Poetry pic.twitter.com/VbdqiRzIyX

— Bryan J. Pitchford, MFA (@BoldCityPoet) July 21, 2019

Today is the seventh annual Take Your #Poet to Work Day created by @tspoetry! Unfortunately, I'll be getting on a plane, but I'm going to bring Edgar Alan Poe along for the ride. #PoetToWorkhttps://t.co/63Tm77TEUl pic.twitter.com/j3SOUrT60Q

— Bryan J. Pitchford, MFA (@BoldCityPoet) July 17, 2019

View this post on Instagram

It’s #takeyourpoettoworkday! i’m at my cafe-office with my favorite poet-puppets and all the poetry i could carry over from my house. Dickey, Yeats, Eliot, Collins, Yokel, Glapp, and of course Peterson and i are going to be here stitching Stonemasons all afternoon. Stop by to read a poem and see the book-stitchery magic happen. (i also have several #northwindmanor journals needing good homes!) You can find your own #weemadriftpublishing printable poets at WeemAdrift.com! #poettowork #handboundbook #bookbinding #poetry

A post shared by Weem Adrift Publishing (@weemadrift) on Jul 17, 2019 at 11:51am PDT

Others, more decisive, recall the many ways in which poets and tea belong together.

For @tspoetry #TakeYourPoetToWorkDay I chose W.S. Merwin, 2-time U.S. poet laureate, who wrote "To The Mistakes." Merwin loved tea, so he helped me choose from my Wilbur tea basket this morning. pic.twitter.com/4oueldNkF9

— Megan Willome (@meganwillome) July 17, 2019

Did you miss out on the big event this year? It’s never too late. Dive in to our full collection of cut ‘n color poets, grab a popsicle stick (or even a pencil) and take your poet to work any day of the week. It’s guaranteed to bring you joy. (And who can resist the chance to mess up a researcher’s data?)

Photo by Steve Penton, Creative Commons license via Flickr (poets added). Post by Will Willingham.

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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, Take Your Poet to Work Day

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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. Maureen says

    July 25, 2019 at 11:58 am

    Fun to see these, LW. Thanks for pulling them together.

    Reply
  2. Sandra Heska King says

    July 25, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    It’s a lot of work to pull all these together. But so fun—especially with your added commentary. Thanks for sticking Nurse Mary in here.

    Reply
  3. Megan Willome says

    July 25, 2019 at 2:04 pm

    I just love seeing this thing grow every year.

    Reply

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