Poetry and social media join forces once again in April. Tell Me More celebrates National Poetry Month with its 3rd annual Muses and Metaphor series. We'll feature poems exchanged via Twitter by NPR fans — always in 140 characters or fewer. Tweet your poem using the hashtag: #TMMPoetry .
This year, we've more than 1000 responses, and we've heard poetic tweets from a doctor in Philadelphia,Pa.; a translator in Chicago, Ill.; an Egyptian-American poet in Washington, DC; and the renowned poets Elizabeth Alexander and Nikki Giovanni. We've also heard poems about the Boston marathon bombings .
Keep up wit the series on Twitter, stop by our Storify below , or listen to what we've aired so far below.
Poet, writer and performer Holly Bass is the curator of Muses and Metaphor. Tell Me More host Michel Martin kicked off the series with Bass in early April.
[View the story "#TMMPoetry 2013" on Storify ]#TMMPoetry 2013 Storified by NPR's Tell Me More · Tue, Apr 02 2013 09:11:50
#TMMPoetry kicks off w/ @hollybass360! Tweet us a poem and Holly will choose some to air. n.pr/YYmY6h pic.twitter.com/MXahHFUV9FNPR's Tell Me More
Taking chances leaps of faith jumping, dancing Out of pain into bliss #haiku #nationalpoetrymonth #spokenword #tmmpoetry #napowrimoMandela Rose
The rose will be alone in her pursuit of beauty, save for the dandelions nearby. #TMMPoetryKevin F. Adler
With limited characters, I try to speak my mind. But by the time I've done my very best; I've only wasted time. #tmmpoetryDeer, Daniel
Every nightwe dream in poems;when we awaken,we live in prose.Between two worlds,one forgets everythingthe other one knows.#TMMPoetryBoiarski
The worldteases the soulit is smallyet also as largeas the world& teases itself. #micropoetry #TMMPoetryPositively Wyrde
@TellMeMoreNPR Get in on #TMMPoetry with @nprnews, curated by the one and only @hollybass360! Spread the word! #poetry #NaPoMoCaroline Rothstein
Poets, and secret would-be writers- there's still time to have your twitter poem broadcast on NPR! Use #tmmpoetry as we celebrate #NaPoMo.Holly Bass
@TellMeMoreNPR Lucky porcupine. At any menace, quills attack - barbed for quick penetration, tortured release.#TMMPoetry #TMMPoetryLORA KELLER
Our love/like rain falling/creating another ocean/of you and me/ I loose myself in us#haiku #mp #TMMPOETRY pic.twitter.com/hqFtq4gJuVConfettiofDreams
last breathfear of deathdustashesthis same earthfor what it's worth#orjay #mpy #micropoetry#tmmpoetryPlatypus Blue
Today's tweeted poem comes from Robert Tinajero of El Paso, Texas:
"When I was young,tacos were seen as poor food" People al pastor forced to hide between the flour of "civilized" American culture
— by @RobertTinajero
Today's tweeted poem comes from Susan Crane of Longmont, Colo.:
Tonight I make love to the lilacs, blossoms warm from afternoon sun. Wishing you could see how beautiful we look without you
— by @prinsing
Today's tweeted poem comes from Sarah Jones of Seattle, Wash.:
Petals from the cherry blossom / bless the pavement / like the puckered lips / of a preschooler with pigtails.
— by @writer_sejones
Today's tweeted poem comes from Roberta Beary of Bethesda, Md.:
funeral home here too she straightens his tie
— by @shortpoemz
Today's tweeted poem comes from Randi Ward of Belleville, W.V.:
My Mother's Hair: Tangles of torn stigmas / withering / at the edge of the garden.
— by @randi_ward
Today's tweeted poem comes from creative writing professor Luisa Igloria of Norfolk, Va.:
Oh love, Oh neighbor, Oh stranger huddled in fear, waiting for parole. How much more we belong to each other, and wait to be consoled.
— by @ThePoetsLizard
Today's tweeted poem comes from translator Su Layug of Chicago, Ill.:
childhood westerns unzzsing the fog, rrring the ties, kssting the bearings. Mother had no words for it, My tongue, no home
— by @su_layug
Today's tweeted poem comes from mother and doctor Kaya Oyejide of Philadelphia, Pa.:
4am baby at breast pager on hip patient on phone Doctor Mom is always on call
— by @kayasinfo
Today's tweeted poem comes from acclaimed poet Elizabeth Alexander
First housefly, first bee/staggers in flight and falls/on the windowsill./April redux,/come spring, coming in.
— by @ProfessorEA
Today's tweeted poem comes from Kat Chow of NPR's Code Switch:
Mom's old, woven flats/ rigid from 10 years ago/ not just vintage kitsch
— by @katchow
Today's tweeted poem comes from Chris Johnston of Pittsburgh, Pa.:
In the bazaar for the ennui of rolled tobacco and the company of the unaccompanied the parchesi & tiny espresso cups
— by @boinkaz
Today's tweeted poem comes from Christina Lux of Lawrence, Kansas:
Propped on white sheets
— by @ca_lux
Today's tweeted poem comes from former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue . He writes under the pen name A.M. Juster:
Early April
— by Michael Astrue
Today's tweeted poem comes from Joel Dias-Porter of Atlantic City, N.J.:
Monday, Monday. Even my reality checks are bouncing.
— by @diasporter
Today's tweeted poem comes from Bauke Kamstra of Nova Scotia, Canada. Hear it read by host Michel Martin:
The cost of fear is the amount of life we expend on it.
— by @wyrde
Today's tweeted poem comes from Yahia Lababidi :
Spinning a word shaped web and waiting. To catch something of sustenance. Wrap it in silk and ingest it. So that I might dream again.
— by @YahiaLababidi
Today's tweeted poem comes from world-renowned poet Nikki Giovanni :
Morgantown, WVA
— by Nikki Giovanni
We kicked off Muses and Metaphor with a tweet from poet, writer and series curator Holly Bass of Washington DC:
In Paris, I pass patisserie Laduree
— by @HollyBass360
