MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And finally, the latest in our series Muses and Metaphors. We are celebrating National Poetry Month by hearing your poetic tweets. You've already started sending us poems that are 140 characters or less. Today, we hear from former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. He joined us earlier in the program to talk about the president's proposal to change Social Security. But in addition to his government service - you might know this - Mr. Astrue is a published poet. And here he is.

MICHAEL ASTRUE: My name is Michael Astrue. I publish under the name A. M. Juster. And here is my haiku. Early April. Winter drums cold tunes. The old word pile sheds its slush. What burns is unseen.

MARTIN: Now that went by pretty fast, so let's hear it again.

ASTRUE: Early April. Winter drums cold tunes. The old word pile sheds its slush. What burns is unseen.

MARTIN: That is a poetic tweet. It was submitted by former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. Now we want to hear from you. If you would like to help us celebrate National Poetry Month, tweet us your original poetry, using fewer than 140 characters. If your poem is chosen, we will help you record it for us and we will air it in the program this month. Tweet us using the hashtag TMMPoetry. You can learn more at the TELL ME MORE website. Go to NPR.org/TellMeMore.

And that's our program for today. I'm Michel Martin and you've been listening to TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Let's talk more tomorrow.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.