Download Love Poem: “Thoughts Upside Down” by NY Poet NG Swett

People really like this short rhyming poem from Hold Me Tight, my book of love poems

“Thoughts Upside Down” from HOLD ME TIGHT poetry book by New York poet NG Swett. On 4x6 adhesive shipping label printed on a thermal printer.

4YOU! Click image for free DOWNLOAD of png for personal use.

Here is a short video I made of the same poem:

I’ve posted online a few poems from Hold Me Tight. I’ve tried different ones in different ways (e.g., videos, images, audio, etc.). This short vertical video has done the best so far.

As you can see, it types out the poem, and there’s a black and white image behind it of an upside down crystal ball. It shows the minimalist modern aesthetic of the book overall.

Thermal poetry?

I printed the poem above on a thermal printer and I’ll tell you why.

Printing a poem on an adhesive thermal label is an idea I got by two accidents.

One accident was in the original printing of the paperback poetry book. A poem accidentally sucked. So I made a label with a better poem and covered my shame. (And updated and uploaded my files to Ingram Spark and Draft2Digital for the revised hard cover and ebook editions.)

The other accident was printing out a dozen of the same shipping label for an eBay sale. A waste of precious labels, for sure! But printing a dozen poems on purpose and then sticking them up around town might be fun.

When I’ve got some thermal poems in my bag, I keep my eye open for a good spot. What’s a good spot? Visible, public, out of the elements a bit, smooth surface, and possibly used by other sticker people…

Can you see my thermal poem?

In recent years I’ve been selling a few things online, such as eBay, Poshmark and Amazon. I’ve become aware of a huge number of creative, entrepreneurial and community-minded people doing ecommerce, and many of us have thermal printers because of the time, money and paper they save in shipping. The cost of ink these days, am I right?!

People might like to print out a little poem and stick it up somewhere it can be seen. Maybe it will inspire others to write their own poems and paper the world with poetry.

Poetry — the readers, lovers and writers

The angelic people who have taken time out of their busy lives to flip through a few of my short poems have told me that they really like the shortest ones. Haha! But this one titled “Thoughts Upside Down” is one of my shortest though.

Seriously, short poems are easier to share online with the people because they can fit on one visual and in a short period of time.

And what could be simpler than a poem? Especially short rhyming poems, they’re just fun and easy to read.

Poetry is a weird thing

Poetry is a weird thing for most people, and no one really talks about it. You’d have to go to a local poetry jam or writers club to find anyone talking about this sort of thing. In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to be stone cold stunned quiet with nothing to say when called upon to read and comment on a poem or a book of poetry. Although I’ve seen that poetry is enjoying a new popularity which I’m happy to see and even happier to join in on.

So that’s why I like to be on my poetry bullshit right in plain view. It was over a casual lunch at the dining room table one day that I toyed with the title of a new poem in my notebook. I asked my husband to get involved, and “Thoughts Upside Down” is what we came up with. It was a pleasant lunchtime puzzle, and I’m quite pleased with the result.

Color with Nan! Modern abstract coloring book

This coloring book page is from page 11 of Random Modern & Abstract Art Adult Coloring Book created by NG Swett and published by 4seasonshelf.

I will be using crayons, but colored pencils or markers would also work just fine. Follow along as I color mine using the short video below.

Download this coloring book page pdf here

Get it, print it out, and get ready to color with me!

Nan’s notes on coloring technique

Feel free to color however you like, have fun, and enjoy the process. Sometimes people worry that their coloring isn’t good. But when it comes to coloring, the only thing that matters is that you’re having a coloring adventure. The more you do something, the better you get!

For me, I like to layer colors.

First I pick colors and then lightly color in the major blocks of color. Use whatever colors you want! It’s a coloring page, not a test. So if you’re feeling blue, beige, red, orange, purple, orange, green, whatever — just go with it and see what comes of it. By adding layers, you can adjust as you go til you’re pretty gosh darned pleased with your coloring.

Once the first layer is down, I add stronger colors and heavier layers on top. Sometimes I add details that aren’t on the coloring page. In this case, for example, I wanted a horizon line. But you don’t have to add that or anything else.

If you want to color inside the lines, then do that. If you like to color neatly, then do that. Personally, I like to start off nice and easy and then get nice and rough.

Don’t forget to sign your name!

And please share yours on Instagram and tag @4seasonshelf so I can see it!

Enjoy!

~ Nan