Muses And Metaphor 2012: Tweet Us Your Poetry!
Poetry and social media join forces in April, as Tell Me More celebrates National Poetry Month with the 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.
You can read some of our recent favorites via Storify here, or stop and listen to the tweeted poems below.
Poet, writer and performer Holly Bass is the curator of Muses and Metaphor. Host Michel Martin kicked off the series with Bass at the beginning of April and checked in with her mid-month to hear some of her favorite tweets.
April 30, 2012
Today's final tweeted poem comes from Tameka Mullins of Harlem, N.Y.
Feed me, put poetry on the plate. I'll dine with gratitude savoring the taste. Digesting every word. Leaving no diameter to waste.
— by @Tamstarz
April 27, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Jessica Mogis of Omaha, Neb. She's a Montessori school teacher and recording studio manager.
Piecing the confetti of life's bowl from birth, my daughter. Sky shattered in her hand, she gathers the shell of a robin's egg.
— by @JessicaMogis
April 26, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Kelly McQuain, a poet and an English professor from Philadelphia, PA.
In the Twitter age, the page takes a toll.
We download books to mobiles and we're back to scrolls.
— by @kellymcquain
April 25, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Sondra Byrnes, an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame. She says she's written poetry for just under one year but has already cranked out almost 1,700 poems.
the old dogwood • leans forward • to present perfection
— by @SondraJByrnes
April 24, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Joel Dias-Porter of Atlantic City, N.J. He makes a living playing poker and says is last 'real job' was at a bookstore.
Friday night- trout scales glistening on Mom's arms
— by @diasporter
April 23, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Scott Heath. He's a writer, editor and professor of English who lives in Washington D.C. His forthcoming book is 'Head Theory: Hip-Hop Discourse and Black-Based Culture.'
April 20, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Sorina Higgins, an adjunct English professor in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. She's also author of Caduceus, a book of poetry, which this poem is excerpted from.
I am the dead man on the field; I am
the bird, the beast, the god, the groom, the bride.
I am a hypocrite, a metaphor, a myth.
— by @IambicAdmonit
April 19, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Yahia Lababidi, a freelance writer and poet. He lives in Washington D.C. and has worked in Egypt for the United Nations.
Bodies are like poems
a fraction of their power
resides in their skin
the rest belongs to the spirit
that swims through them
— by @YahiaLababidi
April 18, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Brandon Montero of Ripon, Calif. He works as a land surveyor for a civil engineering firm and has been writing poetry for 18 years.
Solitude. A lie I've been telling. Companionless predator, moving in the dark. Lonely, tired man...growing older as dawn breaks.
— by @Stained_Canvas
April 17, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Stacey Graham of Bluemont, Virginia. She's the author of two upcoming books: 'The Girls' Ghost Hunting Guide' and 'Zombie Tarot.' She's also founder of the website Zombie Dating Guide (zombiedatingguide.blogspot.com).
Hills full of children
laughing as they glide down slopes
zombies make great sleds
— by @ZombieDatingGde
April 16, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Dave Malone of the Ozark mountains in southern Missouri. He's a poet, playwright and fiction writer.
I love the unknown in you, the unfair, the shy backs of your knees, the colony of dimples sleeping in moon-shaped huts at your mouth
— by @dzmalone
April 13, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Susan Layug of Chicago, Ill. She's a translator and interpreter of Tagalog, one of the national languages of the Philippines. She also writes essays, non-fiction and poetry.
The snow etches gorges on the mountain sides
like ducts on a mammogram.
Rivers and hungry mouths
don't look back.
— by @stlayug
April 12, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Amy Turn Sharp, a writer and toymaker from Worthington, Ohio.
on the old webbed lawn chair
with sun tea
reading novel after novel
until the sun drops like a penny into the slit of the earth
— by @amyturnsharp
April 11, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Luisa Igloria, an author and teacher in Norfolk, Va. She directs the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program at Old Dominion University.
Remember when summers
strung fish bodies
to bleach in the sun;
then winters--
their quick salt
a welt on our lips.
— by @ThePoetsLizard
April 10, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from writer and artist Heather Feaga of Phoenix, Arizona. She says she's inspired by the sciences, including outer space and marine life.
April 9, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Laura L. Barkat. She is managing editor of Tweetspeak Poetry (tweetspeakpoetry.com) and lives in the New York metro area.
Dip me into the silver bowl, peel me with the salt of your burning hands.
— by @llbarkat
April 6, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Anne McCrady, a poet and storyteller from Henderson, Texas. Her poetry appears internationally in literary journals, anthologies and art magazines and has been recognized by the Poetry Society of Texas.
Into cloud currents that slip past the floating sun, cast the fly of your heart.
Rest as you wait for blessings to take the bait.
— by @AnneMcCrady
April 5, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Jim Lounsbury, a writer and film director. He was born and raised in Seattle and now lives in Sydney, Australia.
Muses And Metaphor 2012: Tweet Us Your Poetry!
Across a loaded room an old flame flickers in a gust of conversation. I sigh wanting her to send up a smoke signal of distress.
— by @poetreefalling
April 4, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Renea Hanna, a 26-year-old administrative assistant from Bandera, Texas. She is also a freelance photographer, artist, writers and jewelry maker.
Muses And Metaphor 2012: Tweet Us Your Poetry!
you, my daisy
pluck your eyelashes as petals
plant your feet in water
watch your head wilt to your knees
return to me in spring?
— by @reneahanna
April 3, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from TyJuan Hogan, a 13-year-old 7th grade student at Hart Middle School in Washington D.C.
My eyes are my trademark
I get them from staring at the sky
but the sun ruins my memory.
I look up anyway
— by TyJuan Hogan
April 3, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Alan King, a writer and Senior Program Director of the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop at Hart Middle School in Washington D.C.
There you are - as if the world weren't a ball of yarn
unraveling in the hands of toddlers. You with a Sufi glow
— by @aking020881
April 3, 2012
Today's tweeted poem comes from Daisha Wilson a 12-year-old 6th grader at Hart Middle School in Washington D.C.