Celebrate English Nerds!

Ok, so I'm pretty sure that no one else is going to be celebrating the 8th annual Poem in Your Pocket Day tomorrow BUT that doesn't mean that everyone can't read a few poems on their computers. I know that poetry isn't up there with novels or news or the TV Guide on the "things people want to read today" list, but they're really not that bad. Low investment of time for many (unless it's by Homer or something) and just as much diversity of tone and topic as anything else. So here are a few for you to enjoy today, and more updates of my recent activities will be on the way shortly.

Faults
by Sara Teasdale
They came to tell your faults to me,
They named them over one by one;
I laughed aloud when they were done,
I knew them all so well before, —
Oh, they were blind, too blind to see
Your faults had made me love you more.

from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=175280

(a competition of haikus about Helvetica)

Helvetica sits,
watching you try the new fonts.
It knows you’ll be back.

wedding invite came
they chose brush script mt bold
i give it six months

Strong, bold, smooth, clean lines.
Like all the men in my life,
You are just my “type”.

from http://blog.extensis.com/?p=382

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_stand_at_my_grave_and_weep

Radio
I smiled at
a song
played on
the radio

It tricked me
into thinking
I
still loved.

so I
raised the volume
and sang
and still do
 
from http://www.redbubble.com/people/justinmo/writing/4064374-radio

First Fig
by Edna St. Vincent Milay (the poet with the funnest name to say, according to my 12th grade Composition teacher)
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes and oh, my friends --
It gives a lovely light.

from http://www.hycyber.com/VERSE/first_fig.html


That should be enough to last a little bit anyway.  More on my goings on later.  Also, a few posts ago I mentioned that homeless shelters will begin charging those who are homeless but employed rent (which they would pay for a real apartment if they could afford it as the shelter system leaves much to be desired).  While I laid the blame for this solely at the feet of Mayor Bloomberg (already hyperbole as no politician, even an executive, acts completely alone), apparently the initial action came from Albany and Bloomberg has just given up on trying to get around it.  Either way, I don't see this as an effective solution (and I'm not alone).  One article implies that it's a matter of finding a way to pay for the shelters, but every other article I've read on it says politicians insist it's not, perhaps because that would smack of balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, never a long-term solution.  Anyway, just thought I'd clear that up a bit.