guerrilla poetry: poetry notes, your secret weapon

by Jill Crammond Wickham

The term guerrilla poetry is not, as my son imagines, poetry written by a guy in a gorilla suit. Though that may be closer to the truth than I suspect. Guerrilla poetry is an action. It’s getting poetry out to the public in new and surprising ways. Back in October, Dana provided you with poetry prescription forms so you could dole out poetry-reading, poetry-writing and poetry-sharing advice to friends, family, neighbors and even the unsuspecting stranger. If you missed it, stop here and pick up your very own poetry prescription form.

And now for this month’s guerrilla poetry action: Let’s talk about quiet places and public spaces. More specifically, places where you’re supposed to behave: the library, church, a meeting, a class, a poetry reading. Now, let’s have a show of hands. How many of us have been in one of these places and needed to write a poem? Been so inspired by what you are seeing/hearing/smelling that you had to share it

Writing that poem down on a piece of paper is fine — but passing that piece of paper under the table to the person next to you is guerrilla!

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Guerrilla poets are rebels. Guerrilla poets write surreptitious first lines of poems on scraps of paper and pass them to their neighbor during boring meetings, during church, during a lull in poetry readings. Guerrilla poets on a date write the first line of a poem on a napkin while their date is in the bathroom and pass it to them when they return. Guerrilla poets who are parents set a terrible example for their children and pass poetry notes during dinner.

I challenge you to become a guerrilla poet by passing a poetry note to someone unsuspecting in any public space or at any public event. You might want to write your poem then share it with a co-worker. Or maybe you want to get really extreme and write a collaborative poem with someone during a meeting or a meal or a ride on the bus. The possibilities for poetry note-writing are endless. All you need is a pen, a piece of paper and some imagination. Oh, and a poem, too, of course!

That’s it in a nutshell. If you have any questions, let us know. And please let us know about your actions! We want to know what you did once you’ve done it. We invite you to discuss your experiences with secret poetry notes in the comments for this post. You can also share your actions, along with photo links if you like, in the Guerrilla Poetry group in the “Poetry Notes, Your Secret Weapon” forum.

We would also love your ideas for future guerrilla poetry actions as part of this series. Please leave your comments here to help us generate ideas.

Please Note: Guerrilla poets are bold but always polite. Let’s not give poets a bad name while we’re out there spreading the word! Be sure not to crinkle your paper. Be sure to slide your notes surreptitiously. Don’t disrupt the featured poet/speaker/instructor/preacher!

Jill Crammond Wickham has discovered that the frantic pace of motherhood has driven her to write more, not less. Jill writes at Mom Trying to Write. She is a co-editor for Ouroboros Review and a senior contributor and columnist for Read Write Poem.