Take your Poet to Work Day!

If yesterday was Terrific Tuesday, I guess today must be Wonderful Wednesday!  Although HOT and HUMID Wednesday is closer to the truth.  My husband and two of my sons will be working outside all day preparing for an outdoor concert, with a high today of 92 degrees and humidity at 90%, leading to a heat index of 102 degrees for today.  First it is wind chills, then heat indexes!  Does the Midwest ever get a break?!

And speaking of break, I'm taking one today and bringing you an amusing article about some of my favorite poets.  Did you know July 17 is Take Your Favorite Poet to Work Day?  Who knew?!  But oh, imagine the delicious possibilities!  I thought you might enjoy this post and then take a moment or two to think about which poet you would like to hang out with today.  For my grandmother, I believe her favorite poem was Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant.  But frankly, he doesn't look like he'd be much fun to hang out with all day!

But then, I love Longfellow but I'm not sure how comfortable he would be all day in my cubicle at work!



And I'm pretty sure I would be a nervous wreck if I had Emily watching me work on my computer all day!

Take Your Favorite Poet to Work Day

Post and top photo by Lyla Willingham Lindquist

(Used with permission from Tweetspeakpoetry; you can find the original post here)

Here in the upper Midwest, we’ve had our share of summer storms these past several weeks. Wind, water and hail, and the things they conspire to do while folks are hunkered down in the basement—cursing whoever took out the batteries to the only flashlight they could find in the house—have kept me busier than usual.

My professional alter ego is a claims adjuster. That means when I got up this morning and dressed my favorite poets for work, I had to explain to Sara Teasdale that climbing a ladder in that pretty dress of hers was going to be a really bad idea. I had to explain to Pablo Neruda that we were driving over to Minnesota, and they wouldn’t look kindly on him smoking that pipe of his in public. I had to tell T.S. Eliot that if he let the cat loose on the roof I wasn’t going to be the one to chase it down. And I spent about an hour trying to coax Emily Dickinson out from behind the mahogany door so we could get on the road.

When we first conceived of Take Your Poet to Work Day, I had no idea how complicated it would be to wrangle a herd of poets out the door and off to the job.

And once we got going, it didn’t get any easier. Eliot kept trying to take the wheel. Neruda talked the two girls into setting up for a picnic in the grass. And seriously? When you sit down to do paperwork, there’s nothing much creepier than Edgar Allan Poe peering at you over the top of your screen.

So I’m wondering how it’s going for you. Did you take your poet to work today? Who did you take? What did your poet do?

If you haven’t started, there’s still time to to get in on the fun. Check out our Take Your Poet to Work Day infographic and choose from among our ready-for-work poets that you can cut out, color, and take along with you. Here are some great Take Your Poet to Work adventures we’ve seen so far (from the looks of it, the reclusive “I’m not going anywhere with you” Emily Dickinson seems to be a hit. And none of these poets seem to work very hard.)

Post and top photos by Lyla Willingham Lindquist. Emily Dickinson looking out window by Ann Kroeker. Sara Teasdale in a teacup by L.L. Barkat. Emily Dickinson in an envelope by Sandra Heska King. Neruda and bread by Monica Sharman.

Perhaps with all this poetic fun, today should be Wacky Wednesday?  Whatever it is, make it a good one!

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