Tweetspeak Poetry

Top Ten Favorites from Poetry at Work Day 2015

By 8 Comments

Back when Poetry at Work Day was barely a giggle in our virtual water cooler’s eye, we had no idea how it would play out. Sure, we’d make infographics and posters and we’d give it really good tweet, but we didn’t know: would we be the only ones celebrating? Would we be able to keep up with other events that would fall on the same day, like Rubber Ducky Day and Dress Up Your Pet Day and, as though meaning to challenge us from the get-go, Skeptics Day?

But we forged ahead, believing that celebrating these public days around poetry (besides Poetry at Work Day, we also have serious fun with poets for Take Your Poet to Work Day and—hang on to your hats—we have a new public day we’ll be announcing soon) is a way we can take poetry to work, transport it, and paint it in the public square—all keys to the five vital approaches to Poetry for Life.

The first year, Huffington Post helped publicize the event by reprinting our infographic. Last year, we actively involved libraries across the U.S. by sending out 500 Poetry at Work Day posters. Virgin Trains in London and the Scottish Parliament helped us take the event global and we saw many small businesses finding ways to use poetry to connect with customers.

This year, we expanded the event with sponsorships by Scratch Magazine and Slice Magazine.  We sent posters to libraries and individuals once again, and gave away over 500 digital copies and 100 print copies of Glynn Young’s groundbreaking Poetry at Work. (You can still get a healthy sample of the book for free.)

From Malaysia, Belgium, South Africa, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, England, Panama, Canada, India, and the U.S., we saw involvement on Facebook and Twitter between individuals and coworkers, the National Park Service, libraries (including the U.S. National Archives) and museums like the Whitney (don’t miss Mark the Mammoth’s warm and woolly poems, from a smaller museum in Elmira, NY), and unprecedented engagement from corporate entities like Microsoft, Kimberly Clark, Urban Outfitters, Haribo in Italy (maker of gummi bears), Marmite (all the way in South Africa), Subway, Cisco and Playstation. Ellen DeGeneres and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Elaine” from Seinfeld) even played their part.

While we surely saw our share of “Roses are red / violets are blue / I promise this poem / will hurt your head, ” we saw a truly gratifying number of individuals and organizations participate more deeply in the day—with videos, graphics, activities and promotions that we hope will help people and workplaces begin to notice the way poetry is present in their work long past Poetry at Work Day.

Here are our Top Ten favorite things from this year’s celebration:

1.

Some folks waxed poetic about breaks and lunches and long-awaited 5 o’clock:

2.

Many used the day to engage with customers, inviting them to tweet poems in exchange for discounts, giveaways, or just the chance to have your poem retweeted. Some of us really, really wanted the Pinocchio pencil sharpener but find ourselves unable to write poems under the pressure of all the Poetry at Work Day excitement, and so, are hoping that Santa Claus remembers this come next December.

3.

We loved seeing the variety of graphics that many designed and shared in support of the day.

Technically, this Oreo Haiku was not posted for Poetry at Work Day, but was retweeted by ADG Creative. Despite our best efforts, Oreo was not forthcoming with another gem, but we appreciate the poetry they found another day.

Be sure to click through this one to see the graphic:

4.

And then, there were workplace activities that were a little more, shall we say, impromptu:

5.

The international participation is especially delightful. Or, at least we hope it is. We didn’t hire a translator for these Poetry at Work Day poems.

6.

If Ellen DeGeneres is your friend, and you happen to have a birthday on the same day as Poetry at Work Day, you might get a poem. And this exchange makes me want to see what words I can make rhyme with all my friends’ names.

 

7.

Ron Swanson might not enjoy Poetry at Work Day very much. But listen. If Leslie Knope were a part of this thing… (Yes, if a mammoth can write poetry, then on Poetry at Work Day the senior editor can get away with an occasional pop culture reference.)

 

8.

No Poetry at Work Day wrap-up would be complete without simply taking notice of the many poems shared throughout the day:

 

9.

Our partners, Slice Magazine, Library Hotel and Scratch Magazine got into the celebration:

And of course we were very happy to spot our 2015 Poetry at Work Day posters displayed here and there:

10.

And when you inadvertently stumble on the title of our upcoming poetry collection from Dave Malone, you get your very own item in the wrap-up.

 

Photo by Steven Depolo. Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by LW Lindquist.

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Poetry at Work ebookGo deeper and discover Poetry at Work all year long.

Get a free sample of Poetry at Work by Glynn Young now on Noisetrade.

Will Willingham
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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

  5. L. L. Barkat says

    I love my job. I love, love, love my job. To bring poetry to the world, and the peace and good humor that can come with that… is a beautiful privilege.

    And to think, all this started with a little joke. I do believe there’s truth in laughter, if we choose to plumb it.

    Reply

  7. Elizabeth Marshall says

    Your wrap ups are always brilliant. This is over the top.
    What a day. So much fun and creativity popping up from all around this big ole world.

    Great team of folks. Yall are the best!!!!
    Thank you for letting me play slash work with you.

    Reply

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