New York City Hall asked employees to write poems about their work: few people liked the idea

The New York City mayor's office asked top employees to get creative and write poems about their agencies for the little-known national Poem in your Pocket day. This task, according to some, only perfects the art of wasting time, reports New York Post.

“It’s a comedy,” said one city worker. “Do they know they have to run the city?”

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“This is a fun competition for all of you. Thursday, April 18th will mark Poem in your Pocket, a celebration created by New York City to celebrate the joy of poetry,” the mayor's office wrote in an email to at least four agencies. Read about how social networks are destroying the lives of young people, according to the mayor of New York, in our article.

Officials included a link to the publication and encouraged employees to post their poems on social media.

“On April 18, we want everyone to share their poems in X,” the mayor’s office wrote. “We will be pleased to see as many teams as possible share their poems on this day.”

Officials from the city's creative public relations team plan to select the best poem and attach photos of the staff member to it.

“This is a good combination of art and competition,” the mayor’s office said. “Have fun!”

Public response

“Why is it so difficult to just be a professional? – one of the sources in law enforcement agencies was indignant. – This is just another stupid nonsense on social networks... Nobody cares. You can create a poem using Chat GPT.”

“We have better things to do,” chided another city worker.

“They won't force anyone to read or do art by forcing us all to write poetry,” another user noted. "It's just a bad trick."

The Poem in your Pocket campaign was first organized in 2002 by the city administration together with the city departments of culture and education.

Six years later, the Academy of American Poets expanded the movement to all fifty states. It encourages people to post poems on social media and recite them.

The mayor's office said the poetry exercise was for fun and not a required assignment.