Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Guerrilla Poetry Bombs

Something tells me that many of you are about to have a lot of empty plastic eggs at your disposal.   How about some Guerrilla Poetry Bombs?   (Relax...no explosives needed.)

This is an activity I tried out with the Eastern Virginia Writing Project Fellows of 2009.   It's simple.   Pick some favorite poems.   Print them out.   Fold them up.   Tuck them inside a plastic egg.



Now for the fun part.   Where are you going to leave these little bits of magic?   It's up to you.   You could have a friend ride shotgun with you after sundown and launch these babies in random lawns.   I guess it could be called littering, but wouldn't Smokey and Junior enjoy a bit of surprise Shel Silverstein?   Who wouldn't?  

Don't limit yourself to the canon of lit-tra-ture.   Consider songs too.   Willie Nelson's "Always on my Mind" strikes me as the kind of lyric that would hit someone just right.   Van Morrison.   Lennon & McCartney.   Otis Redding.   Leiber & Stoller.   Brian Wilson.   Dolly Parton.   Robbie Robertson.   Bob Dylan.   Bruuuuuuuuce.   Just be sure to include the names of the poets/ lyricists.

Even a song we've experienced a billion time's before like U2's "Beautiful Day" shows a different kind of beauty in the quiet of reading the words without hearing the tune.

Here's an old classic that would be a lot of fun on paper.



Let's illuminate our little corners of the world with uplifting and lighthearted words.   Here's a free, printable bookmark from your old pal, Shel Silverstein, to inspire you.

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