Welcome to the odd and whimsical poetery of the Peeps related to holidaze! Let’s investigate what today is, because we need all the holidaze we can celebrate, right?
Today is many holidays! So I will pick out a couple, and you can click the link above if you’re curious about the rest. This is an open thread, so please feel free to add your favorite illustrated pomes for today in the Comments!
Today is Be Electrific Day
Be Electrific Day was started by professional speaker, body language expert, and speech pathologist Carolyn Finch. She defines electrific as "an abbreviation for an electrification project - which means to put light where light has not been before." In a sense, this was done by Thomas Alva Edison, whose birthday it is today, when he invented the modern light bulb. Be Electrific Day celebrates Edison's birthday, but also, according to Finch, "the electricity within us." It is to be a day to discover the electricity within our own bodies.
static electricity
by Neil Hilborn
In second grade we did an experiment with static electricity,
We rubbed balloons on our heads
And stuck them to walls.
And kissing you is kinda like that.
My hair stands on end,
I get shocked when I touch things
And I want to tell you stupid stuff like
Kissing you is a bundle of kittens
Colliding with my face at .5 miles an hour
It's like being shot with a dart gun made of hummingbirds
That shoots darts made of hummingbirds
And your lips are so soft I can't actually tell when we are touching
Like braiding hair underwater
Like napping under a blanket filled with rainbows and clouds
And your favorite books
-snip-
But baby when you kiss me
I can't remember my middle name
Or which one is my left foot.
So come over tonight
We'll shuffle around the apartment in our socks
And we'll let our lips drift toward each other
Like tectonic plates made
Out of kittens.
[Neil Hilborn is a College National Poetry Slam champion, and a 2011 graduate with honors from Macalester College with a degree in Creative Writing. Click this link to see his books and consider buying!]
Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science
To rise to the challenges of the 21st century, we need to harness our full potential. That requires dismantling gender stereotypes. On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, let’s pledge to end the gender imbalance in science.
-snip-
Long-standing biases and gender stereotypes are steering girls and women away from science related fields.
finding wonders
by Jeannine Atkins
Women don’t cross the ocean,
at least not unless married to merchants or missionaries.
No one has sailed to another continent
just to look at and draw small animals and plants.
Some travel to claim land for kinds, find treasure like gold,
or collect bark, berries, and pods to spice cakes.
But no one has sailed from sheer curiosity about the world.
[Jeannine Atkins is a noted author, teacher and poet. She has written historical novels in verse about real women scientists, amongst others. Learn more and support her work at this link!]
