In honor of World Poetry Day and the first day of spring and the fifth anniversary of Twitter, The New York Times today asks readers to tweet a 140-character poem. (They provide four "poetweets," including one from the inimitable Billy Collins.)

My offering, sent to the New York Times Twitter account set up for submissions (#poetweet):

we r thrushes in the blind
we r a faint breeze thru the reeds
rustling the thicket
& the good earth
& the ether
tweeting 4 spring

...JUST FYI...and by the by: My Twitter feed is accessible on via Ernieb1414 or dfriend@vf.com.

Check out the trailer for White Irish Drinkers, a must-see film (which I reviewed this week for VanityFair.com). It opens in New York, L.A., and Cambridge, Mass., on March 25.

Next month marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. (This month marks the 32nd anniversary of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island, in Pennsylvania.) With radiation crises possibly looming in Japan, it is time to seriously reconsider the American administration’s new push for U.S.-based reactors. There are myriad alternative-energy options to aggressively pursue without having to resort to nukes.

Radiation fears aside, I don’t know which video from Japan is more chilling:

This sequence showing the advancing tide of debris from the tsunami or this one showing office towers shaken by the earthquake’s tremors.

AND ALSO …Michael Shaw’s BagNews Salon has an upcoming online panel worth checking out. On Sunday, March 20th, the site has scheduled a photojournalism salon entitled: "Assignment Egypt: Analyzing News Photos from the 18-Day Revolution."

In response to a Freedom of Information Act petition, the NYPD was compelled to release 17 minutes of harrowing videotape this week, showing the 9/11 attacks as documented by an airborne helicopter crew. Nine and a half years later it still seems absolutely unfathomable.