National Poetry at Work Day
Observed
the second Tuesday in January (since 2013)
Dates
Founded by
Hashtags
Sources
Celebrating the power of poetry in the workplace is the objective of National Poetry at Work Day, which was created by the editorial staff of Tweetspeak Poetry. Its purpose isn't to bring attention to poetry per se, but to bring attention to the poetry that can be found in the workplace, and to the poetry that is created through work. The day also remembers the many poets who worked at day jobs, such as T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Carlos Williams. Like them, those celebrating National Poetry at Work Day are encouraged to embrace their work lives but to allow space for poetry to flourish alongside it, and even perhaps in it.
How to Observe National Poetry at Work Day
There are numerous ways to celebrate National Poetry at Work Day:
- Look for poetry at your place of work and in the work you do. Listen or look for it in meetings, in phone calls, in the cafeteria and breakroom, on the assembly line, in your speech, and in the movement of your hands.
- Take a poetry break while at work.
- Write a poem about your job or workspace.
- Engage your coworkers in poetry. Read them some of your favorite poems, print out some of your favorite poems and leave them around your workplace, or invite a poet to do a reading at your workplace.
- Read the Poetry at Work Day ebook, Poetry at Work, poems by some poets who had day jobs, or poems about work.
- Stop at the Tweetspeak website, Facebook page, and Twitter page.