April 18, 2013
Mayor's Poem Featured in Metro New YorkIn honor of the 11th Annual Poem In Your Pocket day, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wrote a poem:
Artistic Freedom
By Mike Bloomberg
April is the cruelest month, I’ve heard a poet say
But not for me because there’s Poem in Your Pocket Day
Each year, I get to publish my new verse – it’s quite a perk
Too bad reporters always ask me to describe my work
Oh who knows?
Here goes…
My stuff’s not like Dickinson – or Gertrude Stein
I’m not a new Longfellow, though he’s just fine
I don’t write like Whitman, I don’t rhyme like Pope
I don’t sound like Ezra Pound (or so I hope)
My work’s not like Chaucer or Baldwin or Hughes
My poems aren’t like Emerson’s or Angelou’s
I’m not Robert Frost – though we share a few traits
And I am not Keats (which does not rhyme with Yeats)
My style isn’t Wordsworth – that’s not what it is
Nor is it like Browning (Not Robert or Liz)
It’s not Dr. Seuss. It’s not Mother Goose.
I just can’t describe it – I have no excuse
But hey!
That’s okay….
I’m Bloomberg!
Not Ginsberg or Sandburg, you see
I shouldn’t be T.S.
i can’t be e.e.
I won’t ever rhyme like Muhammad Ali
I’m me
In NYC
So I’m free
To be anything I want to be
And that is the note I’ll end upon
New York New York!
Write on Write on!
Mayor Bloomberg’s poem was published today in Metro New York to encourage New Yorkers and visitors to carry a poem in their pocket and share it with friends, family, co-workers and classmates.
Launched in 2002, Poem In Your Pocket was developed by the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Department of Education. It occurs every April in conjunction with National Poetry Month. This year’s celebration is in partnership with the Academy of American Poets, Bryant Park Corporation, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Metro New York, the Poetry Society of America, and cultural organizations across the City.
In addition to writing a poem, the Mayor hosted the fourth annual “Poetweet” Twitter poetry contest, from April 1 to April 8. @NYCMayorsOffice received a record 400 poetweet submissions, up from 300 submissions in 2012. The Mayor selected five winners to be published in Metro New York on Poem In Your Pocket day:
@lenalandwill
I run to you/thru stinging rain and climbing snow/I wait for you/My Ironhorse/My Silver Stallion/My M train. #NYCPoetweet
@DoubleMartini
Love is a bldg w/a view,a newstand,hotdog or 2,park bench to sit on,an animal saved,tiny apt cave.Love is this city cuz of u. #NYCPoetweet
@AlexHonigsberg
Small towns dance/Broadway's river of lights/Gotham's glory walks her lines/immortal heroes/etch their stories on her spine. #NYCPoetweet
@Steven_Conroy8h
Published in the Metro pages, Highest form of success for no wages, Some paid by word some by the feet, I sacrifice space for #NYCPoetweet
@merriedee
upper,lower,left and right metro card,keys, chapstick, cash assign and zip ...order in the coat! #NYCPoetweet
Literary organizations across the city will celebrate Poem In Your Pocket with poetry events throughout the day. Event participants are encouraged to use #pocketpoem to inform Twitter followers about Poem In Your Pocket activities.
Poem In Your Pocket day Highlights:
A listing of Poem in Your Pocket day and National Poetry Month events, along with poems for download, are available at www.nyc.gov/poem or through 311.
Marc LaVorgna/Julie Wood
(212) 788-2958
Danai Pointer/Ryan Max
Cultural Affairs
(212) 513-9322