twitter poetry series on npr's tell me more #tmmpoetry
TRANSCRIPT
Highlights and Stats
Muses and Metaphor 2014Poetry and social media joined forces for the 4th year at NPR’s Tell Me More in April. We featured poems exchanged via Twitter by NPR fans and Tell Me More contributors in 140 characters or less using #TMMPoetry. This year, we had more than 4,600 responses.
This year’s Muses and Metaphor series came with a twist. Producer Bridget Armstrong had the idea to engage some of our on-air contributors and ask them to try a poetic tweet of their own. This proved to be very successful as the top influencers this year were Filmmaker and Writer MK Asante; Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz and Michael Skolnik of @GlobalGrind. In addition to widening our circle of fans on Twitter, these radio conversations added great depth to the poetry series running parallel on Twitter.
1. Creating An Ecosystem In 140 Characters – April 8, 2014 Poet Holly Bass stopped by to talk about her teen writing initiative at a Washington, D.C. detention center. Bass has been working with her students to create poems that are 140-characters or less. She shared how she inspires them to navigate the sometimes difficult limitation. She also shared a collaborative poem written by her students: “I am a plant with no seeds/Fielding for soil/I am a good witch with no spells.”
2. Filmmaker and writer MK Asante and Poet Malcolm London April 11, 2014
Malcolm London’s poem was about the west side of Chicago: “I'm from the west side where I used to hope here. The only time I prayed for blocked shots, needing safety nets.” MK Asante shared his poetic tweet: “Children of the night, lost, found their bold type under streetlights bargaining with death for discounts on life, half off.”
3. Hip-Hop Dreams Lead to Penning Poetry – April 15, 2014 Laura Martinez and Michael Skolnik (see next page for tweets)
4. Waxing Poetic About Politics and Jimmy Choos – April 22, 2014 Bridget Johnson, Washington D.C. editor of PJ Media and Mikki Kendall, a writer and pop culture critic with HoodFeminism.com. (see next page for tweets)
STATS FROM TOPSY AND KEYHOLE
4,600 TWEETS AROUND #TMMPOETRY
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Poetic Tweets - highlights
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