Michael Leis

It struck me as particularly poignant that legendary Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas passed away today during poetry month. So I thought I’d throw in a few words towards that cause.

Every April reminds me just how important poetry is to our ever-evolving society. To me, it is the foundation of all communication: concise, evocative, and powerful.

Last of the throwback posts (for now), this was a poem written at Drexel way back in 1991. They offered me a scholarship for it, which seems silly because it looks awful to me now. At this point I was starting to realize I could exchange writing for goods and services. Enjoy. What I Don’t [...]

Inspired by my most recent airline trip. Funny what inspires people to write. In this case, it was being charged two dollars on US Air for what had previously been a free coke.

As I start to structure a number of posts about what Microblogging, and Twitter in particular mean to me, to you, and your audience, it’s best to start at the beginning. Twitter, as with any microblogging platform out there, takes for granted that you have an extremely firm grasp on narrative convention. So firm, in [...]

I couldn’t let poetry month end without tossing one more out onto the blog. I thought about Emily Dickinson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or Elizabeth Bishop. All of them are favorites, and well worth looking into if you’re not familiar with their work. But in the end, I couldn’t get away from posting another Billy Collins [...]

906266203816 The last four boxesI’ve called my home what day is this       [check phone            [where’s an outletcharge the laptoppick up anchor sail onanother meetingout to lunch       [check phone               [check some metricsfully adriftNext up, more more voices of familywafting in the breezethe pie in a [...]

We’re halfway through national poetry month, and I haven’t posted a single poem since the third! To make up for it, I’m posting one of my recent favorites by a poet I just discovered (about six years after the rest of the world): Billy Collins. For those who don’t know him, he is the largest-selling [...]

If you read my earlier take on how leading interactive experiences and executives relate closely to great poetry, this next bit won’t come as any surprise. If you haven’t, I’m a firm believer that poets were (and still remain) some of the worlds best thinkers on how people, societies, and technology interact in a succinct [...]

Inspired from last night’s stay atop the Tarrytown, NY Hampton Inn. You’re insaneSo curvedlike great artdirecting my eyearound a part of the showerI never thought to considerBold and different But thenLike tailfins on carsyour novelty wearsAre you here to helpshower rod? Why are you running awayfrom keeping water inside the tub? Please come back, shower [...]