A Random Random Acts of Poetry Day Wrap

One of the ways that Merriam-Webster defines random is “a haphazard course; lacking a definite plan, purpose, or pattern.”

I suppose, for many things (like asteroids hitting the earth, for instance) that definition works. I would be sad to learn that asteroids crashed into the earth in a more systematic way, and with particular targets in mind. With intention we could say. But in other cases, I like to think that random is not so random. That comes to be with a little less haphazard, a little more intention. Like with poetry, for instance.

Random Acts of Poetry Day.

Every year, people around the world, whether poets or readers or this-is-the-first-time-I’ve-been-near-a-poem kinds of people, take a little less haphazard, though still quite random in its way, approach to poetry. And they find ways to infuse the world around them with it in some of the most unexpected ways.

The world celebrated this random day last week. Here are a few of our favorite random acts:

Bethany left poetry just lying around. More or less randomly.

Loved seeing the fun folks had on #RandomActsofPoetryDay! My daughter wrote a little poem as we drove to school. After lunch, my son and I read a sonnet together and chatted about it. I left a copy out for my husband to find. (Thanks, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.) @tspoetry

— BethanyR (@BethanyR__) October 3, 2019

The City of St. Louis called in the Poet Laureate for what was, I’m sure, a random appearance.

Did you know today is #randomactsofpoetry day? We just had a guest visitor in the COR sharing poems from St. Louis’ own Poet Laureate, Jane Ellen Ibur! Here is one of the poems for your enjoyment. pic.twitter.com/e6DfwEewkX

— Gregory FX Daly (@gregoryfxdaly) October 2, 2019

OEV Grocer made poetry from (does it get more random than this?) celery.

Slender stalks, leafy
and glistening from rainy
day arrival. Pink.

Happy #RandomActsofPoetryDay #haiku #tinyperfectgrocer #ReadWellDoGood
Get pink celery (or write your own haiku) at @630Dundas in the @OEVHub.
More about RAoPD here: https://t.co/YAlHLmJmc3 pic.twitter.com/LpyiivTmIN

— OEV Grocer (@OEVGrocer) October 2, 2019

I’m not sure if I’d rather go with the randomness of sheep reciting poems, or the randomness of one more iteration of a William Carlos Williams fan “just-saying.”

We have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive us
we are adorable
so sweet
and so floofy#RandomActsOfPoetryDay@D3Demes pic.twitter.com/3pDYceSc4o

— dailysheep (@dailysheep1) October 2, 2019

While over in Ireland, randomly opening a page turns out to be anything but. Or does it?

We opened this for #randomactsofpoetry day…to find ourselves looking at our Facebook Group's favourite poem for #PoetryDayIreland 2019! #spooky pic.twitter.com/CUETGZSWhb

— Irish in France (@Irish_in_France) October 2, 2019

And a (possibly random) airport in Wisconsin pulled haphazard travelers into their random plot.

Stop by and read, write, or share some poems on Random Acts of Poetry Day! Our Short Story Dispenser will also be giving out poems all day! #RAOPoetryDay @ShortEdition_EN pic.twitter.com/NBoEAGV6Cr

— MSN Airport (@MSN_Airport) October 2, 2019

Speaking of pulling, um, travelers into a plot web, the poetic spider was spinning.

#randomActsOfPoetryday #TheBook by 🕷️ pic.twitter.com/9WP0p6RZqR

— Albino_Spider (@spider_albino) October 2, 2019

"The Spider" written by 🕷️#RandomActsOfPoetryDay pic.twitter.com/91FZkDeZwj

— Albino_Spider (@spider_albino) October 2, 2019

But, for my random part, I’m partial to the tarts (all the way from Hong Kong).

View this post on Instagram

This #RandomActsOfPoetryDay, we've decided to put our inner poet to the test. Smash that like button if you think we made it (fingers crossed 🤞) ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ *𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭*⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 ⁣⁣ 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘷𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸⁣⁣ 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵⁣⁣ 𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘨 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸⁣⁣ 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦! ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ #taicheongsg #poetryatitsfinest #nothaiku

A post shared by taicheongsg (@taicheongsg) on Oct 2, 2019 at 11:45pm PDT

Photo by Simon Matzinger, Creative Commons license via Flickr.

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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, Adjustments, is available now.

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Latest posts by Will Willingham (see all)

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