November 11, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
What do poetry, Twitter, and the national debt have in common?
Answer: The Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
In an unusual effort to promote better fiscal health in America, the foundation has asked people to submit haiku poems that shine a literary light on the growing federal debt or their own credit-card bills. The organization displays the entries on a new Web site and sends them out via Twitter.
The short poems follow the traditional Japanese form of five syllables, seven syllables, and five again, and are effective at delivering a message, though they won’t be confused with the words of haiku master Matsuo Basho.
For example:
Spend, borrow, repeat
Leave the bills for our children
Too young to object
or
Rack up lots of debt
Blame bankers for recession
Hand out for bailout
Of course, the poems are more enjoyable than the foundation’s other Twitter feed; it simply announces the rising dollar figures of the U.S. debt.
Read The Chronicle’s profile of former private-equity investor Peter G. Peterson. (A paid subscription or free, temporary pass is required to view the article.)
What do you think? How are other foundations using Twitter to promote their missions?
