GPS Poems Feed

Sack Scale

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:50:28 GMT

The Sack Scale was written after viewing the artefact in Hornsea Museum, which is dedicated to collecting workaday items of rural life in a now bygone age. Hornsea is a rural town of 8,000 people on the North Sea coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Its claim to fame, apart from the friendliness of its inhabitants, is that it sits by the largest natural freshwater lake in Yorkshire.

December 1855

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:45:31 GMT

Weighton Beck crosses low ground to the west of the town. The 1855 Ordnance Survey map shows a windmill and stepping stones on this meadow land. It was the stepping stones that drew me because they were a poor persons way of crossing the water and provided fun for children. Market Weighton was an important railway junction, fielding trains to Hull, the coast, Selby and York.

Toilet Verse

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:30:47 GMT

Found in a marketing agency in Londons toilet. There were two of these lovely ladies speaking in verse. Amazing.

Autumn Reflections

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:12:42 GMT

Poetry Slide Show about Autumn

Owners Manual

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:07:55 GMT

Continuing the series of lines written on pebbles of Southsea Beach since 2008. See more at http//www.flickr.com/photos/t8gallery/sets/72157614699605214/

Cobbled Stone

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:59:59 GMT

Continuing the series of lines written on pebbles of Southsea Beach since 2008.

The Waste

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:47:39 GMT

My poem was inspired by looking at old maps and landmarks in the area.

Domino Pateman reads Mis

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:23:59 GMT

Domino Pateman reads this childrens rhyme in Polish for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Domino is one of many members of the public who have contributed to the collection so far. Heres what she had to say about her memories of the poem.I remember singing this with my sister and cousins in the back of the car in the summer holidays.TranslationBearWere going on a trip,Were taking our bear in a basket,But the bear Fiku Miku,Did a wee.

Domino Pateman reads Girls

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:17:36 GMT

Domino Pateman reads this remembered rhyme for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Domino is one of many members of the public who have contributed to the collection so far. Heres what she had to say about her choice of poem.My Granddad Derek recites this poem to himself sitting in his chair, laughing and undoubtedly thinking of times gone by!

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:07:11 GMT

The Ballad of Reading Gaol was written by Oscar Wilde during his time in exile after imprisonment. It is claimed that he wrote parts of it in Cafe de Tribunaux, Dieppe, which I visited whilst on holiday there. The cafe has been maintained in its historic style, making it easy to imagine Wilde sat at one of the tables, pen in hand.The poem was published in 1898 under the name C.3.3, and Wilde was not commonly known to be the author until a year later. This is an extract from the poem, giving Wildes response to the hanging of a fellow prisoner for killing his wife.

The Waves and the White Cliffs

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:42:25 GMT

All along the wall at the beach front people have left temporary messages like this using chunks of chalk from the cliff side. With the crashing waves comes internal peace.

Chickens of Destruction

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:35:58 GMT

Who are these chickens and what are they so angry about They have left their mark on this metal bollard overlooking the French coastal town of Dieppe.

Dr Khalifuu and the lost lovers

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:19:37 GMT

Taken by my friend Maisie whos working with the UN in Nairobi.

Francis Byrne sings Johnny McEldoo

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:56:52 GMT

Poet Francis Byrne sings Johnny McEldoo by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about the track.Its the story of a few friends that go out one afternoon and have a few drinks and eat a lot of food which gets them into a fight. When I was very young, my Dad used to sing it to me on a couple of occasion when he put me to bed. I used to love it, it was the rhymes and the rhythms, and the speed and the pace of it that really held me.

Francis Byrne reads Easter Sunday

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:49:58 GMT

Poet Francis Byrne reads his poem Easter Sunday for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about writing the poem in AmblesideThe place really brought about the poem, as I stood on the bridge, I leaned over quite far and looked underneath the bridge, and I saw a young dog that had drowned. I had the thought that I might be the only one to have seen this dog and missed its life.

Marshall Marcus reads an extract from 1066 And All That

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:36:30 GMT

Marshall Marcus reads the first page of 1066 And All That by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Marshall is one of the many members of the public who have contributed to the collection so far. Heres what he had to say about his choice.I chose to read this extract because it from an old book my parents must have bought. I also remember reading it at Moortown Primary School, Leeds.

Elizabeth Danford and Jonny Hoyle perform Stand By Her Side

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:23:57 GMT

Musicians Elizabeth Danford and Jonny Hoyle perform this extract from their song Stand By Her Side for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Jonny told GPS that he links the track to New Cross becauseIt is about being afraid of moving north of the river in London

Elizabeth Danford and Jonny Hoyle perform Pass Over Again

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:02:41 GMT

Musicians Elizabeth Danford and Jonny Hoyle perform this extract from their track Pass Over Again for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what Lizzie had to say about the poems location on the GPS map. This song was written in preparation for me going to Ghana and then I finished it whilst I was there.

Chris McCabe reads The Tao of Dining by Peter Finch

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:54:46 GMT

Poet Chris McCabe chooses to read this poem from Peter Finchs collection Food for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about why he chose it.I chose this poem because it reminds me of the worst ever dining experience I ever had, but also because I think Peter Finch is probably the greatest living performer in poetry that weve got. He lives and writes in Cardiff, Wales.

Mia Farlane reads Marilyn Duckworths poem He Married A Slut

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:34:43 GMT

Author Mia Farlane chooses to read this poem from Marilyn Duckworths collection Other Lovers Children for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what Mia had to say about her choic.Its a really clever poem which gives both points of view, and was written by my mother.

Rosie Luff reads Airy Mouse

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:20:55 GMT

Rosie Luff reads this childrens rhyme for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Rosie is one of the many members of the public who have contributed to the collection so far. Heres what she had to say about her choice of poem.My grandma has a huge repository of nonsense verse and old folk poetry which she recited to me when I was growing up. This is one example.

Gauri Sharma Tripathi reads Shringar

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:12:22 GMT

Choreographer Gauri Sharma Tripathi reads this beautiful 17th century Indian poem for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what she had to say about the origin and meaning of the poem.This is a 17th Century poem written by the Pakti poets which depicts the waiting of Radha for the beauty of Krishna, and for Krishna himself to arrive.

Edward Venning sings The Oak and The Ash

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:05:44 GMT

Edward Venning sings this traditional folk song for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Edward is one of the many members of the public who have contributed to the collection so far. Heres what he had to say about why this track is important to him.I first sang this round the piano with my brother on a lads weekend for his birthday on the Isle of Skye.

Nikki Shaill reads Sapere Aude

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:57:22 GMT

Nikki Shaill recites the lyrics of a song remembered from secondary school for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Nikki is one of the many members of the public who have contributed to the collection so far. Heres what she had to say about her choice of track. This is the school song from my old secondary school. Sapere Aude is Latin for dare to be wise and was the school moto.

Non voglio obbedirmi

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 08:45:44 GMT

wish of freedom... not to obey to the rules that you impose to yourself for having all under your controll, that the other impose to youto say THATS ENOUGH i wants to live free let me live or at least let me kick the bucket in peace

Span

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:30:29 GMT

The M62 motorway bridge over the river Ouse near Goole is a dominant feature on the flat landscape. Articulated lorries can be seen on it like a column of ants on a twig. It forms an important river crossing on the TransPennine motorway linking Hull, Leeds and Manchester. It is 1.6Km long, 30m high and has a gradient of 1/33 the steepest permissible on motorways. It has 29 spans forming a graceful rise and descent. It was opened May 24th 1976. It chose me for the poem because it strikes such a commanding and yet compatible presence in the local geography. It is a thing of concrete and steel, yet as sensual and elemental as the curving river it spans.

East Riding Seaside

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:20:53 GMT

This poem was inspired by the rapidly eroding Holderness coastline.

Fryers

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:05:36 GMT

Waiting in this favourite fish and chip shop I noticed the fearless skill needed to cook chips. Matty is one of the dedicated staff.Bridlington, on the Eastern edge of Yorkshire, is a cheerful seaside town. It hosts its own poetry Festival in June, and has white cliffs, a thriving arts scene and no hills...so ideal for cyclists, pushchairs and ride on buggies.

Fryers

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:05:30 GMT

Life In The Winter

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:26:10 GMT

Poetry Slife Show about winter

A Nautical Mile

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:43:45 GMT

A Trip from the Waterways Museum up the canal to Rawcliffe Bridge. The weather was fine and sunny when we left but we were hit by a sudden squall as we turned for home.

Yperite

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:55:10 GMT

Yperite is a poem about chemical warfare in WW1

Spurn

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:53:47 GMT

Spurn Point is a narrow spit of sand forming the north bank of the mouth of the Humber estuary. It is a place of wild, desolate beauty.A walk around Spurn in late December when the weather was particularly vicious prompted the poem.

Everything this way

Sat, 29 May 2010 16:18:33 GMT

Onwards and upwards in the artists lift at the Royal Festival Hall!

untitled

Sat, 29 May 2010 14:48:05 GMT

I am not sure if its a poem!!! nevermind, i loved, so deepful and meaningful ... find it in one of the benches at Berkeley Square...

test

Thu, 27 May 2010 10:11:35 GMT

flickr embed test

Holiness of the Heart

Wed, 26 May 2010 17:38:43 GMT

My spiritual aspirations for Humanity, inspired by John Keats quote I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the hearts affections and the truth of imagination

Elixir of Love

Wed, 26 May 2010 17:29:08 GMT

These words sum up my hopes for Humanity

Will Aquino sings Terezinha de Jesus

Tue, 25 May 2010 18:48:43 GMT

Will Aquino sings Terezinha de Jesus in Brazilian Portuguese for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of poem A lullaby which my mum used to sing to me at bed time when I was a kid. I have chosen it because I remember how happy and mellow it used to make me feel.

Paul Sartin reads The Lowlands of Holland

Tue, 25 May 2010 18:38:59 GMT

Bellowheads Paul Sartin reads the lyrics of this traditional folk song for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of songThere are many versions of this song, and the setting changes from the Lowlands of Germany (William Bartlett) Galloway (Marina Russell), and Dorset in Ireland (Mrs. R. Gale). The events and emotions of this song render the geography insignificant nevertheless, I have altered Bartletts text with borrowings from the two broadsides cited above (v.2 line 4 from The Maidens complaint, v. 3 line 4 from Lowlands of Holland) in order to set the action back in the Lowlands of Holland, in accordance with Ediths title.

Paul Sartin reads The Navvy Man

Tue, 25 May 2010 18:31:09 GMT

Bellowheads Paul Sartin reads The Navvy Man for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of poemIt was collected from my ancestor Edith Sartin in Corscombe, Dorset, in July 1907, by the Hammond Brothers. Edith seems to be the only person on record to have sung the song.

Judith Owen performs Salley Gardens

Tue, 25 May 2010 18:23:14 GMT

Musician Judith Owen performs a poem written in the 1800s and later set to music. Heres an extract from what she had to say about her reason for choosing the poemIts a poem that means a great deal to me in my life because it was set to music by Benjamin Britain in the 1940s. It was written originally by William Butler Yates...in 1889. It was reconstructed originally from an old song, and its from three lines perfectly remembered by an old peasant woman...who often sang them to herself. It makes total sense to me that this poem started off as something that was sung and I cannot separate it from music...

Boris Grebenshchikov performs Fates Rusty Pail

Tue, 25 May 2010 18:01:30 GMT

Musician Boris Grebenshchikov recites lyrics from his song Fates Rusty Pail for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of songFor me its one of the funniest and maybe profound things that ever came to me and for me its connected with the city of Chester and neighbouring area of Wales, where I came to compose it.And it goes approximately like this (in very rough translation)Therell come the day when well all be dreaming the same dreamNot a single word will leave our lips Some will fall where they stand and some will soar like the birdsAnd Fates rusty pail will be empty forever.Through everything in the worldThere lies my mysterious garden and the gate is covered with ivySeek for me and know that three is always fourWhen youll be whole well meet again

Douglas Hastings performs his poem Isle of Arran

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:28:43 GMT

Poet Douglas Hastings reads his poem Isle of Arran for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of poemThere are lyrics from Sound of Silence, Homeward Bound, Scarborough Fair, etc. in the poem, and its about the Isle of Arran.

Pete Flood sings Young Girl Cut Down

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:20:13 GMT

Bellowheads Pete Flood sings this traditional folk song for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of songMy parents were raised in Fort Worth, Texas The Streets of Laredo was a popular folk song of their childhood, and one which they both sang to me when I was young. . I grew up in Hampshire, a few miles from the town of East Meon, where in 1909 the folk song collector Francis Jekyll recorded an unnamed singer singing a song called Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime. These two songs are variants of the same original ballad, a late 19th century broadside called The Unfortunate Rake.

Kamal Musallam chooses Bint Elshalabia

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:13:26 GMT

Musician Kamal Musallam chooses this traditional Arabic song for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of trackThis is a traditional Arabic song that I have heard growing up. It brings me memories of a time gone by and reminds me of a place, person and culture that I link closely to home. The song dates back to centuries but was made popular by the exemplary Arab singer Fairouz. The song, in my opinion, takes its value from the different people who have sung it. What makes it special for me is the voice of Fairouz, which is warm and soothing and takes me to a cozy, comfortable, familiar space.This song is mainly a kind of a love song..of a man describing the beauty of the young woman he admires...her eyes, her hair, her rose colored cheeks. She went down from her house, looking him in the eyes

Department of Geography

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:08:02 GMT

Taking the lift up to meet some friends at the Kings College student bar, level 6 of their building in The Strand I couldnt help notice the lift went down to minus 4, what was going on 4 floors below ground level under the Strand I went investigating..

Dear Winesburg play Windy Old Weather

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:01:00 GMT

Folk band Dear Winesburg play Windy Old Weather for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what Chris Kreinczes had to say about their choice of songAn old English folk song which I first heard sung by Harry Cox on The Barley Straw. Theres something haunting about the melody, and this sense of unease is reinforced by the presence of various talking sea creatures who challenge the skipper. And yet the refrain when the wind blows well all pull together implies, that the creatures, the storm, the boat and the skipper, are all working together, in some greater scheme of things.

Huw Williams sings Banks Of The Ohio

Tue, 25 May 2010 16:45:05 GMT

Huw Williams of Melodica, Melody Me sings Banks Of The Ohio for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about his choice of song.I learnt Banks of the Ohio on a camping trip when i was eight years old but have only recently put music to it. I love the disparity between the songs tender, delicate melody and its vengeful, murderous lyricsIm sure I didnt appreciated that as a child but remember being mesmerized by it nonetheless, its a beautiful, haunting ballad.

Sarah Savoy sings Mon Homme

Tue, 25 May 2010 16:06:48 GMT

Musician Sarah Savoy sings Mon Homme for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what she had to say about her choice of song. I chose this song because I like the imagery. Translated it meansMy man hasnt returned yet. The breakfast is burning. The cow hasnt been milked. Go see what time it is. My man hasnt returned yet. My man hasnt returned yet. The sun is setting. The children are crying. Go see what time it is. My man hasnt returned yet.

Andy Mellon reads How Doth the Little Crocodile by Lewis Carroll

Tue, 25 May 2010 15:20:51 GMT

Bellowheads Andy Mellon recites a poem remembered from primary school for Global Poetry System at Meltdown Festival. Heres what he had to say about the poemI chose How doth the little crocodile, by Lewis Carroll. I had to learn it when I was 8 for an audition for a production of Tom Sawyer at my primary school, and I got the part!!!! Ive never forgotten it!

Life At Sunrise

Tue, 25 May 2010 04:27:05 GMT

A new day begins at sunrise .This is a video poetry slide show that reflects that moment and the beauty that it brings .

Art Money

Sat, 22 May 2010 21:10:07 GMT

Art Money

those who forget the past

Thu, 20 May 2010 23:19:59 GMT

George Santayanas oftmisquoted words

The Palace Is Built

Tue, 18 May 2010 18:05:42 GMT

This was made during a GPS workshop. I chose a page at random from a local history book in Twickenham library, photocopied it, cut out the words, and rearranged them to make a poem.

Worse things happen at sea

Tue, 18 May 2010 12:16:30 GMT

A sea shanty about a great storm that devestated the east coast of Yorkshire in 1874, when many a hearty fisherlad did find a watery grave. Scarborough graveyards are full of headstones from that period, which often include extracts of poetry and verse. The more I research Scarboroughs history the more stories, poems and shanties I discover which document the lives of Scarborians throught the centuries, passed on as oral traditions.

Walking Through A Park I Walk Past Every Day

Tue, 18 May 2010 12:00:35 GMT

I saw this scribbled on the foot of the Archway Tower building in chalk. There is no park there, just the tiny brush of weeds under the words, and its all in an open patch of concrete paving that marks the back entrance to Archway tube.

Song of City River Blues

Mon, 17 May 2010 13:11:14 GMT

A Poem by Liliana Ferreira

South Sea Isles

Mon, 17 May 2010 13:07:16 GMT

This is a poem so we can enjoy dreams in the day as well as the night. Written by Tessa Kostrzanowska at Twickenham Library.

of Guildford

Mon, 17 May 2010 13:05:17 GMT

A Poem by Tony Finerty

Red Hatband

Mon, 17 May 2010 12:59:47 GMT

A Poem by Frances White about her father.In A Year of Poetry by The Richmond Libraries Poetry Reading Group

Pay it forward

Sun, 16 May 2010 14:08:02 GMT

Scattered words left afloat. Will they reach their destination before we depart

Beautiful truth

Sat, 15 May 2010 19:08:40 GMT

Part of Douglas Gordons exhibition at the Tate Britain. Like words Go see! (til 23 May) http//www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/douglasgordon/default.shtm

The Falcon to the Falconer

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:59:03 GMT

This poem was originally published by The Spectator in 1992 and was then anthologised in the 1994 collection Poem for the Day edited by Nicholas Albery. Since its original publication, it has appeared on numerous websites and blogs. It seems to mean many things to many people including falconers ...

Prayer for the Stressed photographed in Londons Tin Pan Alley

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:31:45 GMT

Denmark Place is a dingy alley way accessed from Denmark Street a street of musical instrument shops. Down the alley are tattoo parlours, recording studios and blues bars. How anyone visiting or working in this wonderful, creative place could be stressed is beyond me, but there it is.Imagine reading this poem with a soundtrack of a plaintive blues riff floating on the breeze!

The Falcon to the Falconer

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:26:52 GMT

The Falcon to the Falconer was first published by The New Statesman in 1992 and then anthologised in the 1994 collection Poem for the Day edited by Nicholas Albery. Since its first publication it has appeared on many websites around the world and been quoted in numerous blogs. It seems to mean many things to many people including falconers ...

Tagore in East London

Thu, 13 May 2010 13:27:04 GMT

The shade of my tree is offered to those who come and go fleetingly.A fragment of a poem by the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, beautifully traced along the tarmac in Ali Altab park in Whitechapel. Spending a lot of time in the area, I have often found shade and comfort in tracing the words along the path through the park.

New Address

Thu, 13 May 2010 04:43:02 GMT

This is about moving to a new house and attempting to make it feel like home.

Motel Murder Money Madness

Tue, 11 May 2010 16:01:12 GMT

Motel murder money madness/Lets change the mood from glad to sadness.This was found scrawled on a bathroom wall of a 180 year old converted jail (now a hostel called The Old Gaol Backpackers in Grahamstown) last year. The words seemed fitting. These lines are from the song L.A Woman by The Doors, also to be found within the more haunting Lost Paris Tapes of Morrisons poetry. Especially put in context of the song, these lyrics capture the thrill of the night. But its something darker, a sense of danger and loneliness is captured I think. I see your hair is burninHills are filled with fireIf they say I never loved youYou know they are a liarDrivin down your freewaysMidnite alleys roamCops in cars, the topless barsNever saw a woman...So alone, so alone

Full of Empty

Tue, 11 May 2010 05:35:09 GMT

A pleasant distraction on my way to work at about 7am in the morning. My instinct was to climb aboard and wait for an audience in the parking lot to spontaneously perform a poem to.

Board in a bar in Angel

Mon, 10 May 2010 08:54:09 GMT

I love this board in a bar in angel.

A good deal on the underground

Mon, 10 May 2010 08:42:45 GMT

To (sic) years for 250 not a bad deal if you ask me!

Companion Stone, Longshaw Gate a poem by Jo Bell

Sun, 09 May 2010 17:48:59 GMT

The poem is based on the commands used by shepherds to their working dogs there is a big sheepdog trial here at Longshaw every summer. It also makes reference to walking rambling is a political activity here in the Peak. The Mass Trespass on nearby Mam Tor played a part in establishing wider public access to private land, and the Peak District National Park was the first of the national parks. Finally, it makes a reference to looking back the hillfort of Carl Wark is clearly visible from Longshaw, as are medieval hollow ways and other archaeological features in the landscape. Its a lot of weight for eight words to carry! The poem is carved in a circle so it can be started and stopped anywhere. The design, by artist Kate Genever, is meant to acknowledge the millstones which are found all over the moors in this part of the Peak District but not to pastiche them, nor to look like a bad gardencentre birdbath! This is one of twelve Companion Stones which will be at the Moorlands Centre, Edale until late July 2010 then will go into place alongside the eighteenthcentury guidestoops they are designed to accompany.

The Old Science Museum, Birmingham

Sun, 09 May 2010 17:24:18 GMT

A piece by Birmingham Poet Laureate in response to the nowempty former Science Museum in Birmingham

shoes to cheer you up

Sun, 09 May 2010 11:48:11 GMT

greeting discovered after buying the shoes...

Morally Diminished Queen

Fri, 07 May 2010 09:12:50 GMT

Is it because shes over done the make up and the blingSomeone has added a new dimension to this lovely painting of the queen using a sticker. Found on a wall outside the Creekside Centre in Deptford.

Kingfisher Square

Fri, 07 May 2010 09:04:34 GMT

You know how the world looks bigger when youre smallUrban Deptford as seen by an anonymous 9 year old poet funny how they think the buildings at Kingfisher Square look shy eh This was on a wall outside the Creekside Centre, a project that demonstrates and advocates sustainable riverside urban development.

Cutting Edge

Fri, 07 May 2010 08:49:10 GMT

Yep its just as I thought the Cutting Edge is round the corner from the Bottom Line in Deptford.

Bottom Line

Fri, 07 May 2010 08:45:57 GMT

A good phrase to prefix the closing line of any argument I find... Thoughtfully enhancing a wall round the corner from the APT Gallery in Deptford.

Butter me up Jamie Oliver

Thu, 06 May 2010 21:35:17 GMT

Jamie Oliver came to our little town to film a Sainsburys ad. My studio was in shot so his people told me to put my lights on to make it look pretty. But they didnt ask nicely and offered neither nosh nor dosh so I set about my protest. I was going to take it further, adding Lidl, Morrisons etc., but my pen ran out...

horseman, pass by

Sat, 01 May 2010 16:45:39 GMT

WB Yeats gravestone inscribed with the last three lines of one of his last poems Under Ben Bulben

Islands

Sat, 01 May 2010 14:55:59 GMT

Not much to say really. Im happy to discover people sharing my thoughts, willing to stand next to me in a world plagued with fear, where hedonism has been declared the high doctrine of a new religion that is bent on punishing all faithless and desperate souls that refuse to wear the grinning mask of false wellbeing.

Meridians VII Dengfeng (text of the poem read in the video)

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:37:20 GMT

Persistent, impolite questions about the definition of home and identity the desire to inhabit a space as well as its shadows the quest for attachment and the parallel one for flight these seem neither new, nor diasporic prerogatives. Home could be a dubious notion even when one has not changed residence once. Sometimes the tendrils of belonging dig deeper when living out of a suitcase. Sometimes not. Meridians is a series that looks at a place as a moment or a sense... the poem is from my first collection, Bearings, published by HarperCollins India in 2009.

Inoccent slut

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:23:20 GMT

Those victims clothed as professionals who await the lure of night to sin.

Underground

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:48:54 GMT

Urine, sex, alcohol and the last taboo.

The Poem Pool

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:33:05 GMT

A series of stories and poems written by users of Brockwell Lido about the iconic pool have been painted inside it. The pool is now full and the poems are waiting to be discovered by underwater swimmers in the summer season.

Meridians VII

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:38:24 GMT

I imagine they do use the Buzzer

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:25:45 GMT

Spotted in a doorway in north london

Flags

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:21:15 GMT

found on a RNLI notice at Torcross, Start Bay, Devon UK

I CITY or 1 CITY

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:41:32 GMT

Found daubed on an empty stall in Petticoat Lane Market at 4am. Cobb Street E1.

The Aegean

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:41:33 GMT

Aegean is a poem about love and the emotions attached to it.

A169

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:43:39 GMT

The A169 is the route that leads up onto the North Yorkshire Moors to Whitby. The climb out of Pickering on our annual summer holidays treated us to a fabulous views of the purple heather covered landscape. The workaday world was left behind on this climb and we marvelled at the Hole of Horcum and the view of Whitby from the top of Blue Bank pure magic!

Scarborough

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:52:43 GMT

Having come to live in Scarborough I often find myself driving along the A64 in the opposite direction to the holiday traffic. The beating, pulsing sound as these vehicles pass put the words pumping into Scarborough in my mind. From those words this poem evolved.

abc near highbury corner

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:40:50 GMT

a is not the lettera is not the sounda is not press the buttona is not ring the bella is not the sounda is not flat aa is not not whos therea is not the space below ba is not to the left of ba is not the space below the space below ca is not two over from ca is not Aa is not the indefinite articlea is not a...a is not the firsta is not the besta is not the groundfor apress the button below aring the bellmake the soundwaitfor bpress the button below bring the bellmake the soundwaitfor cpress the button below bring the bellmake the soundwaitfor my poetic practice journalpress herehttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

RAOUL CODE NAME RACHEL Dead Body

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:26:06 GMT

DEAD BODYI hope youll forgive me, but I didnt just dump you. After I killed you, I wrapped up your body in a sleeping bag,found the quietest spot in London,and left you to deathdream your nightmare journeyto Hell.Sorry, dad.It may not seemlike I love you,but the way I disposed of your bodywas the best I could do.You were left undisturbed too, except for when a strolling bankerchanced upon youwhile out on his lunchbreak,saw from your facethat you were dead,and, like a true city slicker,knew exactly what to dopretend he hadnt seen you,and walk the other way.By the time the police had reached this spotin what had become a Londonwide search, the foxes already had taken your body away.Goodbye, dadIm gladthe police never got you,either when you were aliveor when you were dead,that I,your son,your feral bastard son,did so instead.raoulcodenamerachelyahoo.co.uk

The Mariana Trench

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:50:03 GMT

A love poem of sorts.

White rabbits and magic tricks

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:47:46 GMT

Something about when you start feeling like you might be falling in love.(You can find me on facebook weetabixlive.co.uk or else I write on http//www.gspoetry.com/memberfubar46745).

Breakfast Politics

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:42:41 GMT

An everyday event or object can be interesting, revealing ideas and concepts that you hadnt thought about before. Remember lovers, the nature of the world, history, everything held in your hand.(You can find me on facebook weetabixlive.co.uk or else I write on http//www.gspoetry.com/memberfubar46745).

Polar Flares

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:33:01 GMT

A poem about my past.(You can find me on facebook weetabixlive.co.uk or else I write on http//www.gspoetry.com/memberfubar46745).

Adrians Notebook

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:58:46 GMT

Im sitting at my desk with Birminghams Poet Laureate, Adrian Johnson, and feeling pretty excited to have such illustrious company. Hes working on some praise poems for the city, towards the City of Culture Bid, and so I asked him for a sneak preview of his poetry notebook. I love it! Anyone in Birmingham hell be outside Hudsons Whistle Factory (of the world famous Acme Thunderer Whistle found in every football pitch across the land) at 12 noon on April 23rd 2010, to start a poetry tour of the ten neighbourhoods, in 24 hours. Wish I could be there you certainly should be!

Christs Croft

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:49:46 GMT

What an uplifting concept, for Lancastrians! More of a riddle than a full poem that has survivied for centuries. Only 4 lines but this has stayed with me since childhood, sent me to the villages of Lancashire and had me wondering if it was the civil war that it had traditionally been handeddown from Most people believe the place to be Croston as it is situated between the Ribble and the Mersey. I found a confirmationthe reference to it, in a old book by Jessica Lofthouse Lancashire Countrygoer a fascinating read!

Composed in Spring by James Orr

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:15:55 GMT

The poem is called Composed in Spring by James Orr is on the windows of the brand new library in Antrim. I was the first author to visit the new library. It was 9th february 2010 and the first shoots of spring were fighting their way through the sun.

Stone Dead Forever

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:09:48 GMT

Writings and scribblings on the stones of Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continued to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

Stone dead Forever

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:36:58 GMT

Writings, musings and scribblings on the stones of Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continued to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

Stone Dead Forever

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:19:56 GMT

Writings and scribblings on the stones of Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continued to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

Stone Dead Forever

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:12:25 GMT

Writings and scribblings on the stones of Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continued to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

Stone Dead Forever Sinner!

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:06:14 GMT

Writings and scribblings on the stones of Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continued to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

50 Words about Alicia Partnoy

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:48:20 GMT

This poem was written for 2650, a celebration of fifty years of the International PEN Writers in Prison Committee. Fifty UKbased writers (members of the writers group 26) were given 50 words to write about one of Pens emblematic cases authors who have been persecuted for their words and actions. This piece is about the Argentine writer Alicia Partnoy.

The Present

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:43:01 GMT

Some words from a follower of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Seen in East London.

the answer to my questions

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:24:27 GMT

another in a series of mysterious quotes pasted around the city

Weather Poem Phrases

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:46:48 GMT

These words were plucked from the minds of a year two class in Billericay who were asked to think of poetic lines about the weather my personal favourite is Clouds like black candy floss that you can just make out at the bottom of the page. A brilliant moment happened on this project when a group of children ran in from the rain, just before they entered the classroom they spotted a rainbow and declared winter is as white as a frozen rainbow

ON FLAMBOROUGH HEAD

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:19:43 GMT

Flamborough lighthouse was built in 1806

Rose Carr Haulier of Hornsea

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:52:39 GMT

Rose Carr lived in Hornsea in the early 20th century. Her face was disfigured possibly due to a kick from a horse. She was immensely strong and could lift very heavy weights.Nobody was sure if she was a man or a woman!

Holderness Skies

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:45:40 GMT

A celebration of the skies in our flat landscape

Airship Rings

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:44:41 GMT

This poem was written about the Airships which were built at Howden Airship Station in the 1920s. The R100 was designed by Barnes Wallis, and built between 1926 and 1929. It flew successfully to Canada at the end of 1929, and broke the world speed record of the time, with speeds of over 80mph. The R101 was built at Cardington, set off for India on October 4th 1930, even though there had not been enough trial flights. It crashed in northern France, killing 54 people including the Secretary for Air, Lord Thompson. Airship production in this area, was therefore ended indefinately.

Over The Cliff Edge

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:34:52 GMT

This poem is about the villages which are now under the sea as a result of erosion. The Holderness coastline continues to disappear at an alarming rate.

SOUTH HOLDERNESS

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:13:59 GMT

In praise of South Holderness.

RAG RUG

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:12:29 GMT

Hornsea is a small seaside resort on the East Coast. There is an award winning museum in the town centre, in which the Rag Rug lives.

The Ballad of Hawkwood

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:56:19 GMT

An old traditional tune I learnt from Rachael Dadd called Two Sisters set to new words of my own.Written about the Hawkwood plant nursery run by my friends at Organiclea.

architects of change

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:55:23 GMT

a response to the local authoritys crackdown on graffiti. words courtesy of William S Burroughs

Love for the last time

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:04:44 GMT

A poem about making love for the last time.

Rock of Pages

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:35:08 GMT

Random page plastered to the volcanic rock by the railway line next to my house.http//www.loveisthenewhate.blogspot.com/www.myspace.com/seanmwhelan

One thing leads to another.

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:51:20 GMT

Speaks for itself really.http//www.loveisthenewhate.blogspot.com/ www.myspace.com/seanmwhelan

F for Fallen

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:34:22 GMT

Found in the base of a tree cut down next to an old bluestone church in Northcote.http//www.loveisthenewhate.blogspot.com/www.myspace.com/seanmwhelan

Most of What I Have I Dont Want

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:09:33 GMT

A concise description of the burden of materialism. Found at the base of a railway bridge over Merri Creek in Northcote, Melbourne, Australia.http//www.loveisthenewhate.blogspot.com/www.myspace.com/seanmwhelan

hickory dickory dock

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:31:07 GMT

nursery rhyme decorations at Lisburns Island park

i spy

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:29:03 GMT

I spy with my little eye, an interesting addition to a public space in Lisburn

Dangerous

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 05:18:49 GMT

The breakdown of a relationship can bring you down into a dengerous side of life .

The Journey

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 05:13:53 GMT

The Journey of life is a long road and the paths we choose and the raods we walk do eventually bring us home, even though there are many bends and twists along the way .

Sweet Bird

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:07:33 GMT

This song / poem is about emigrating and leaving behind a girl you love .

The Wandering Minstrel

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:02:26 GMT

This is a poem / song that portrays the lifestyle of a travelling musician poet .

proverbs

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:34:26 GMT

quotations from Sophocles (via Seamus Heaney) and Shakespeare, alongside law related poetry

Around the Airport

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:19:38 GMT

More of a visual 5 line, 3 beats a line poemOr is it a short story

Keeping Faith

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:47:07 GMT

A poem written for Matt Simpson and Michael Murphy, fine poets who both died in 2009.

The Day the Sea Froze Over at Scarborough

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:22:08 GMT

I love Scarborough and find it and its surroundings endlessly inspiring. I walk to the sea every day through the South Cliff Gardens. Usually I hear the waves before I glimpse them. This poem began with the question, what if one day this familiar sound was missing

Picasso i

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:18:16 GMT

Picasso i ...

Interdiction

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:32:31 GMT

Almost Operatic Interdiction

Police Beat Surgery

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:24:35 GMT

Youre beat nicked

Keep off the Track

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:17:31 GMT

Dont go with the Flow

Danger In Both Sides

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:07:11 GMT

Whenever signs mention paths or danger they load themselves with meaning, and they are always the more beautiful, the more languages they use

Bile Beans

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:03:17 GMT

Bile nightly

Legal Services

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 07:56:15 GMT

Succinct total frustration concrete

Please

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 07:46:10 GMT

Plaintive but firm

i will

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:18:27 GMT

meanigful

Zena Edwards shares the poem she carries with her

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:18:23 GMT

We asked poet Zena Edwards to share some lyrics that could be placed on her own personal poetry map. Heres what she had to say about themI sang with a South African Gospel choir for a couple of years, and one of the lines in the poem is from a hymn. It translates as There is no rest here on earth. Its an old school gospel song, andthat line just rang with me when I found out what the meaning was.and I started playing the Kalimba. It became an anthem that I like to use for myself. It really calms me down before a gig, it calms me down during a gig, and I always consider that poem to be more of a prayer.

RAOUL CODE NAME RACHEL Muslim Girl at the Bus Stop

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:09:08 GMT

MUSLIM GIRL AT THE BUS STOPMuslim girl at the bus stop,wearing hejab and headphones,fulllength skirt and colourful top,respecting Allah and listening to hiphop,the fingers of her left handclick to the beat of the tune,while the fingers of her right handadjust her veil and keep it in place,covering her hair and perfectly framing her beautiful face. email raoulcodenamerachelyahoo.co.uk

Poetry Cupcakes

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:58:58 GMT

Inspired by the Scottish Poetry Librarys brilliant http//carryapoem.com/ campaign, we made some poetry cupcakes. The quote is from one of the carry a poem wallet cards and is from e. e. cummings poem i carry your heart with me( i carry it in. We decided we wanted to carry a poem in our stomachs, and Mr Swithun Cooper came up with the perfect title for the poetry cupcakes Poetry Digest. Hopefully, well make some more very soon.

Take The Plunge

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:16:38 GMT

...well, its not far from the Thames...

walked over words

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:42:01 GMT

walking to my boyfriends brothers birthday dinnernear St Martins School of art how deliberate are these messages and their erosion by footwearI can make out the wordsrailway underground increasedbut I read the rubbed off words with even more interestmy poetic journal http//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

RAOUL CODE NAME RACHEL Springtime in Soho

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:39:07 GMT

SPRINGTIME IN SOHOAnyone walking through Soho in wintercannot missthat even here,in a telephone boxthats dark and dank and stinks of piss,its somehow always spring.All year round,each day of the week,lust germinates and flowers into blooms,flimsy pieces of card,with blutack roots,so weakthey never last much more than a couple of hours.Their prospects for survival as a species would be bleakif it wasnt for all the hovering men.Here, inside this telephone box cocoon,this mans already mutated into somethingthat his wife would never recognise.A strange hybrid creature with a human faceand compound eyesof electric blue.And all over Soho,the same things happening tooto dozens of other men,ensuring that tomorrowit will start all over again . . .

Henry Constadine, the Coverdale Bard

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:26:24 GMT

This is a stone inscribed with a poem in memory of Henry Constadine, the Coverdale Bard, Feb 11th 1801 which is located on Flatts Farm in Carlton.

Collection of Scottish Pamphlet Poetry

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:17:08 GMT

The Scottish Pamphlet Poetry stand at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2009.

LEnvoi by Rudyard Kipling

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:13:18 GMT

Written on the back of a maritime painting by H. Hudson Rodmell

God has provided us this rest

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:06:31 GMT

The latin quote from Virgil is carved in to stone above a fireplace in the house.

sky writing

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:48:25 GMT

Martin Herons sculpture If You Get Lost takes the form of a needle and thread, in a nod to the linen industry once prominent in the city.

100 Words

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:56:08 GMT

I learnt a new word every day as part of the London Word Festivals 100 days project ( http//www.londonwordfestival.com/ ). Some of the words have made their way into poems, but more important than that is the overwhelming sense of inspiration that all the participants got from the project. Some people sang a song to themselves every day, some made things out of Lego, some drew a picture, some wrote a poem every day. Through doing one small thing every day, we managed to create something much bigger than the individual acts themselves. I think the overall effect the project had can be expressed with some lines from a great Roisin Tierney poem and I picked up my pen and found true north, and formed an intention as solid as any to write what can be said, do what can be done. (From On Watching Ray Mears Extreme Survival Guide by Roisin Tierney)You can see all 100 words here www.learn100newwords.blogspot.com

shake ralph after

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:38:47 GMT

decaying billboard posters become freestyle urban poetry in their own right

i said to my soul be still

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:14:11 GMT

A homeless man lays sleeping corpselike near this graffiti

The heart is a weapon

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:53:29 GMT

Words on the wall at Calloo Callay bar, a Lewis Carroll themed bar on Rivington Street, London, UK

Om

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:40:55 GMT

Om is an ancient Indian sacred sound. It is the word of the universe, the primal word that encompasses all. In Sanskrit it has three phonetic elements a, u, m symbolising the three regions of the universe Earth, heaven and the middle region. When it is uttered you are sort of saying the whole universe with a sound, like a vibration or reverberation. Hm! Thats what poetry does so this tiny word is like a poem all by itself... I found it on a manhole cover in Uxbridge when I looked at it upsidedown WO perhaps it means water outlet or something like that. Uxbridge needs all the Om it can get, I think.

RAOUL CODE NAME RACHEL Pedestrian Liberation Organisation

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:57:36 GMT

Filmed on location in Londons West End, this is a docupoetrydrama on the PLOs ultimately doomed attempt to fight back on behalf of all pedestrians against the oppression caused by bikes, cars, buses, vans and trucks. Up the PLO!PEDESTRIAN LIBERATION ORGANISATIONWe, the PLO(Pedestrian Liberation Organisation),do hereby swear,on the sacred Highway Code,that those who dareto attempt to kill pedestriansas they cross the roadwill now incur the deadly wrathof Londons Shining Path.White van man with the obligatory copy of the Sunon your dashboard each morning,for fun,you try to runpedestrians overat the zebra crossingat the start of Shaftsbury Avenue.You arrogant sodYou need to knowthat what you dowill, tomorrow,be avengedby a PLO hitsquad.Hippie cyclist too busy having dreamsabout saving the planet,it seems,to think about pedestrianswhen you jump the lightat Cambridge Circus youre a selfish shite,and be left in no doubtthe PLOs about to sort you out.Theres no going back The revolutions coming soon.The blocking of streetsin the West End of Londonby our members will begin from five oclock this afternoon . . . email raoulcodenamerachelyahoo.co.uk

Hill 60

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:46:55 GMT

Hill 60, the real trenches in Flanders Fields

Sleep is the underdog

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:52:06 GMT

Found written on a sandwich board outside an Edinburgh coffee shop.

Blue, Joni Mitchell

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:26:43 GMT

Lyrics from my favourite Joni Mitchell song Blue tattooed on my back, freshly inked two hours before this photograph was taken.

Blue, Joni Mitchell

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:24:38 GMT

Lyrics from my favourite Joni Mitchell song Blue tattooed on my back, freshly inked two hours before this photograph was taken.

A Portrait of Market Weighton

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:59:45 GMT

A poem about the town of Market Weighton in the East Riding of Yorkshire. This poem was written jointly by a group of writers.

May The Peace Of God....

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:35:22 GMT

This was written on the inside of a satchel from WWII, which a friend of mine had bought second handMay the Peace of GodWhich passeth all understandingKeep your heart and mindThrough Christ JesusWhich is from Philippians 47

An inviting warning

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:57:08 GMT

outside a cafe in Brixton market, where you can always get a good slice of fruit cake.

a hand worth holding

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:37:53 GMT

A mystical message in the window of the local fortune teller in my home town of Scarborough, nestled between a fancy dress shop and a tattoo parlour. I have never been brave enough to ask Madam Smith what my hand is holding the lines on my palm are pretty faint which I fear may be a bad sign!

100 poems 100 days

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:02:35 GMT

Josie Long and London Word Festivals amazing group pledge with nearly 1000 participants totally captured me this winter. Josie invited people to commit to doing one thing every day for 100 days to make them a better person, and all the pledgers did amazingly varied and wonderful things, like writing a 100 word story every day, or learning a new word, or building something out of lego, speaking to a stranger...one of my favourites was Twentington, who wrote a 16 line poem each day. Watch his Day 82 poem come to life in this post. Ive located it at Work Dalston, which was the venue for the final celebrations on March 10th, Day 100.See more about the project here http//www.hundreddays.net/

A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:37:20 GMT

A stanza from the great Scottish modernist poem by Hugh MacDiarmid, which appears on a plaque on the wall of MacDiarmid Court a social housing block in the village of Biggar.

The Little White Rose

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:22:43 GMT

Inscribed on a stone slab beside the doorstep of Brownsbank Cottage, the last home of Hugh MacDiarmid.

Dreams

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:45:06 GMT

a very nice poem, i wrote!

four horsemen(part 2)

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:55:57 GMT

second part of four horsemen

Poetry by mjduggan

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:47:05 GMT

bristol poet

Four horsemen

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:44:43 GMT

Sequence poem in four parts part one and two here, parts three and four to come

Human Physiology 123

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:49:34 GMT

This page is from a biology textbook, published around 1900. In it, each element chapter heading, page number, text, engraving, caption combines, accidentally, to tell an unintended version of the story. For me, it is a beautiful and succinct comment on the human condition.

I Drink.

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:17:02 GMT

Taken in a pub.

Train Journey

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:46:42 GMT

I wrote this poem as a Londoner I spend a lot of time on the underground. The London Underground to me is the main symbol of London getting people to work, galleries, shopping, restaurants and seeing a variety of different cultures who make up London.

Prohibido Prohibir

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:39:10 GMT

U cannot pass

Socialismo

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:27:58 GMT

Graffiti esquina chacabucoSocialismo y libertad

National Liberation

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:36:28 GMT

Study equals Liberation

Help!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:23:41 GMT

Advertising Help me finance last Perets record!

Pati de les Dones

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:18:06 GMT

If you want to cirticize somebody, look at yourself first

tangerine trees marmalade skies

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:43:33 GMT

Lennon/McCartney quote from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, used to advertise a new apartment block called The Boat, which is.... by the river

literary angel

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:40:41 GMT

quote taken from Lady Windermeres Fan by Oscar Wilde, decorating one of the angels in the Beacons of Hope exhibition

Stick No Bills

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:31:42 GMT

I love this line. Its largley gone missing from the streets of London, but is everywhere in India. I like the fact that the message acts as a barrier to other ideas or information.

Tyne Cot

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:21:04 GMT

when you leftfor the frontyou were living heroesand nowyou are on topof the hillwhere onlypoppiesblow.......... by Jan TheuninckTyne Cot toen jullie naar het front trokken waren jullie levende helden en nu liggen jullie op de heuvel waar alleen papavers bloeien... by Jan Theuninck

vanish

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:41:29 GMT

Its a Beatle song and a wish.

dirty feet

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:34:45 GMT

the lyric is from Manu Chaos song, but the feet are mine.

dirty hand

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:31:05 GMT

the lyric is from a band called The Kaiser Chiefs, but the hand is mine.

Pay For My Sex!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:49:26 GMT

.. Pay DAMMIT!

litterature

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:43:07 GMT

Litter or...

the possibility for greatness

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:06:55 GMT

a Lee Strasberg quote, used on one of the angels in the AngelsBeacons of Hope exhibition, touring Ireland in 2010

Poetry at Walsall Station

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:58:24 GMT

Delighted to see that in this rather grim station, poetry is everywhere on the walls going down to the platform, and etched into the glass walls of the waiting room.

music is the poetry of the air

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:43:29 GMT

At launch for new magazine Shirley...http//www.shirleymag.co.uk/...in the Hobby Horse...http//www.facebook.com/group.phpvwallgid243098645260...I...http//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/...saw this on the wall......and thought of poetics of sound waves.

St. Helens Well

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:15:03 GMT

Free verse about a local landmark with deep historical associations.

FREE BARE DO WE LAY

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:31:23 GMT

ROMANTIC

why

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:24:54 GMT

about todays world

ROUND

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:05:55 GMT

Round focuses on the London Eye and the omnipresent Underground sign.

Ransom Note.

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:27:42 GMT

Thankfully, the boys whose heart I have doesnt mind that I keep it.

Caution

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:09:35 GMT

A fair warning to everyone who chooses to walk this path,so you can blame nobody but your self if you happen to stumble and fall...is what was running through my mind when I saw this sign. Took this with an LCA, and following the rules of lomography, I take my lomo everywhere I go. )

things that you hate

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:50:26 GMT

quotation from Jonathan Safran Foers book Everything is Illuminated, which must have meant enough to one person for them to stick it up on a lamppost for all to read

Enniscorthy pub

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:56:37 GMT

fantastic olde worlde welcome at pub door

every turn

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:51:20 GMT

revolutionary words, with artwork by KVLR

wisdom

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:49:00 GMT

a famous quote (but by whom) on the side of a bar

anger flood gates

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:38:13 GMT

altered sign with very different new meaning

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:54:32 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1http//gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:52:23 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1http//gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:50:07 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1http//gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:47:17 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1http//gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Toilet advice

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:44:31 GMT

In the Museum of Lost Content (no, really) in Craven Arms, Shropshire, all things nostalgic are celebrated. This even extends to the toilets...

I Am Here

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:58:13 GMT

Found on Hoxton Street, London

Childrens Workforce Development Council Advert

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:43:30 GMT

Found on the Victoria Line platform at Oxford Circus. I liked that an advert for something so gritty was arranged like a poem on the page of a book.

Dinghy

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:29:43 GMT

Found at Tate Britain

Bones, from Accident Emergence project Pistols and Pollinators

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:26:30 GMT

Where is the poetry between a visual artist and a poet locatedThis is the question that Accident Emergence seeks to answer in its Pistols and Pollinators project, bringing together 14 poets and 14 visual artists in collaboration, leading to an exhibition in April. These bones belong to my collaborator within the project, artist Ros Barker who whose husband is a doctor who used the skeleton for his training. They have never really investigated the provenance of these bones. It usually lives in a box that looks like those old ones made for bottles of port. We think it is female.This is what we foundThe box she lives has a suppliers address stuck to it, dated 1953. We think she originally came from India as thats where skeletons for medical purposes came from at that time. Inside, the box is lined with straw and bits of old newspaper. The scraps that we can read establish that she was packed in the box around the time when the Iranian oil fields were discovered. But we thought she might be older than that. Investigating further I found thisAt the end of World War I, the Arab states of the gulf were weak, with faltering economies and with local rulers who maintained their autonomy only with British assistance. The discovery of oil in the region changed all this. Oil was first discovered in Iran, and by 1911 a British concern, the AngloPersian Oil Company (APOC), was producing oil in Iran. The hunt for poetry can lead down unexpected trails!I have more than a passing interest in bones. I want to find the things that connect the living to dead and the unborn in my poetry. A couple of years ago I went to the Londons Dead, an exhibition of skeletons at the Wellcome Trust. It inspired this poem. Poetry can be found right under our feet.London BoneBeneath the hotfoot stomp of our soles, stacked one on top of another fivedeep, bones, loadbearing times secretsin the capitals concrete. Under Euston Road twelve of their number lie sleeping on glassy black sand to wake no more eyes scooped dry of memory jokes snatched from mandibles. Slowgrind of the unnamed, equal in deathattrition of phalanges, ribs, patellas, stained London soil tobacco, yields calcified stories in slim shards of data, like bark thinned to paper.Here, paupers cranium, pockmarked with pox and poverty, and here, monk who liked fur, vertebrae dripping like candle wax with fat and plenty. An old man, cheery in toothlessness, decays back to nature, spine rusted to hinges. Arrowhead embedded in backbone of Roman. The green lady, medieval and minted bares a toothpaste green rictus as if to say We matter, dont weBone bends in dim light so that we can live propping up office blocks rattling along with the tube feeding a clump of roses at what was the single womans Cross Bones. Under Euston Road, the tiny, perfect skeleton a foetuslaid out like a stringless marionette. Light shines the warp and weft of cartilage and hard tissue, weaving a lesson in the articulation of calcium.

Mind the gap

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:37:24 GMT

Found sign at the end of the tube station

I was struck by the great sadness of this landscape ...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:46:14 GMT

In the second of our Scottish Highland trilogy of podcasts, Ryan is up in Portree chatting to Gaelic poet Maoilios Caimbeul (Myles Campbell) and English poet Mark O. Goodwin about their recent collection, The Two Sides of the Pass (Two Ravens Press, 2009), a conversation in poems across two languages and the landscape of the Isle of Skye. Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean.subscribe free (RSS) http//scottishpoetrylibrary.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

Sinan Antoon Iraqi Poet

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:37:00 GMT

I interviewed the Iraqi poet and novelist Sinan Antoon about Iraq and poetry. We spoke of his work, about labels and about which poems he carries with him. Also featuring hip hop track Sunshine from Mammoth, an Edinburghbased duo.http//scottishpoetrylibrary.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

You suddenly became aware of a living literature, which was absolutely fantastic...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:30:18 GMT

In our first podcast of the year Ryan presents the first of his interviews from a recent trip to the Scottish Highlands, and he starts the ball rolling with poet, novelist and playwright Hamish MacDonald, director of creative writing centre Moniack Mhor. We also have a haunting track from Sheila K Cameron, Last Night I Dreamed About Doris Lessing. Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean.Subscribe http//scottishpoetrylibrary.podomatic.com/rss2.xmlEmail Ryan Colin at splpodcastgmail.com

Its one those poems thats just stuck. I cant really explain why...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:18:40 GMT

Colin heads down to the launch of the 2010 One City One Edinburgh literature campaign at Edinburgh Central Library, which is focusing this year on the poems we carry with us and includes a free anthology of poems called Carry A Poem, being distributed for free across the city.Including snippets from poet Ken Cockburn, Edinburgh makar Ron Butlin, literary editor Stuart Kelly, Childrens Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival Sara Grady and charming couple Mark and Alena Fraser. Ryan also asks Colin what his Carry A Poem choices would be. Presented by Ryan van Winkle.SUBSCRIBE http//scottishpoetrylibrary.podomatic.com/rss2.xmlEmail Ryan and Colin with your comments splpodcastgmail.com

Beyond the Boundaries

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:08:11 GMT

Robert Alan Jamieson was born in 1958 in the crofting community of Sandness on Shetland. He writes novels and poetry. His most recent poetry collection is called Nort Atlantik Drift (Luath, 2007), and his latest novel is forthcoming.This podcast features an interview with Alan and an excerpt of his audio cd in which he reads in Shetlandic. Very interesting stuff....enjoy.

anonymity in the city

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:36:25 GMT

a simple warning sign highlights the poetic undertones of separatist culture within the city.

Titch

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:42:41 GMT

Uists only expression of graffiti that I could find!

Please Indicate Your Intention!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:38:39 GMT

A reflective (if very polite) collection of road signs found in the small town of Tarbert on the Isle of Harris.

Not Dead But Sleepeth

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:36:10 GMT

A poetic reflection found on a gravestone in the cemetery at Kildalton on the island of Islay.

For Ever Ever

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:34:44 GMT

A poetic reflection found on a gravestone in the cemetery at Kildalton on the island of Islay.

Bleeding Vine

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:17:09 GMT

A companion to the gentleman, this mosaic sits beside him on a pub wall in a little Austrian skiing town.

Fine wines in winter time

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:13:53 GMT

A mosaic on the side of an Austrian pub. Can anyone help me with the translation

Public Utility

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:20:50 GMT

discrete place...

Critical Mass

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:09:44 GMT

mens evolution

Engraving

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:04:47 GMT

a visitors engraving in Haya Sofia Basilica

We are animals

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:58:41 GMT

arent we

Imagine Peace

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:52:34 GMT

Exhibition by Yoko Hono

We publish writers

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:46:20 GMT

This the basis of GPS poems are on the walls....

Happiness comes to whom believes in it

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:40:12 GMT

A huge fresco

I love Montreal

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:37:10 GMT

Love statement

Letter on the bricks

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:28:46 GMT

Letter to Jean Drapeau, a former mayor of Montreal

Runaway turtle

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:15:09 GMT

Unexpected message on a front door

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:42:26 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:33:21 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:31:53 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:30:03 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:26:14 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Happy

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:13:58 GMT

www.myspace.com/raymondantrobus

Nowhere

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:10:09 GMT

Taken by myself on the Undergrounds.www.flickr.com/raymondantrobus

Pave Meant

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:23:44 GMT

The pave meant.

Trees

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:54:39 GMT

Above the door when exiting Dominics flat, an ominous, strange message.the fuill story on my poetic practice journalhttp//bit.ly/b982bV

I Aim to Please

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:29:04 GMT

My background is Ghanaian and one of the things I miss about living there is seeing funny sayings, truisms and proverbs on buses, taxis, shops...you name it, if it can be written on, it WILL get written on. Sadly, I didnt get this directly from sunny Accra but found it in a friends Facebook photo stash.

Pay In Advance

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:21:11 GMT

Poetry Hopscotch, Imagine Festival

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:42:33 GMT

From Poetry Hopscotch during Southbank Centres Imagine Childrens Festival. Word Migrants (the poet Naomi Woddis and myself) with help from Baden Prince Jnr organised and ran Poetry Hopscotch for two days during the festival. The idea was to engage kids in poetry via a giant hopscotch in the courtyard outside Royal Festival Hall. Some of what the children wrote was breathtaking. In response to the prompt what I didnt see on my way here, Ruby who is 10 years old wroteI didnt see a monster gorilla from Mars wearing shoesrampaging through the streetssmashing buildings and sending people flyingand causing terror with its mightand toppling Big Ben into the Thames.I didnt see a flying cow in knickerbockersperching on top of The Houses of Parliamentand snatching passing MPs. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. I know many adults who couldnt do half as well.

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:45:20 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:42:42 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:41:18 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:37:06 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

museum prasasti, jakarta, indonesia

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:18:50 GMT

The past comes to life at Museum Taman Prasasti (Inscription Museum) in Central Jakarta where headstones from the days of Dutch rule are housed. Many Dutch people visit the museum as much information can be gleaned from the headstones about their ancestors.Around 200 Dutch people come to the museum each year. Most of them are tourists, but there are also scholars who carry out research here, museum supervisor Sudihardjo told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The museum was formerly a cemetery known as Kebon Jahe Kober. The cemetery was built by the Dutch colonial government in 1795 as a final resting place for those of Dutch ancestry, particularly those from noble and senior official families.There are many noted Dutch people buried there including two military men Maj. Gen. A.V. Michiel and Maj. Gen. J.H. R. Kohler, who respectively led wars in Bali and Aceh, as well as the founder of Stovia school of medicine now the University of Indonesia H. V. Roll.Other important people buried there are Olivie Mariamne Raffles wife of British governor general Thomas Stamford Raffles and Indonesian youth activist Soe Hok Gie. After an independent Indonesia was declared in 1945, prominent Indonesians were also buried in Kebon Jahe Kober, Christians in particular.The city administration closed the graveyard in 1975 and turned it into museum in 1977. Bearing a skull and crossbones, one headstone at the museum that draws comment is that of Pieter Erberveld, who died in 1722. Erberveld, who had a wealthy German father and a Burmese mother, was sentenced to death for plotting to murder several Dutchmen.It is said the sentence was carried out by the tying of a horse to all four of Erbervelds limbs, which, when the animals bolted, tore him apart. This is the reason why the area on Jl. Jayakarta in Central Jakarta is called Kulit Pecah (broken skin). The graveyard, which is located less than a kilometer from the State Palace, originally occupied some 5.5 hectares of land, but the museum has grounds of just 1.3 hectares. The office of the Central Jakarta administration is among buildings situated on the remainder of the land.Before the construction of the offices, some of the graves were excavated and arrangements made with relatives for the remains to be sent home. Other bodies were reburied in several cemeteries around the city. However, the headstones were all left at the site, largely due to their weight, particularly those with statues.Sudihardjo said the museum had a collection of 1,300 items, mostly headstones. There is also a hearse used during the Dutch era, a bronze bell, and the coffins of founding president and vice president Soekarno and Muhammad Hatta. Awaluddin, a museum employee, said Jakartans also visited but mostly students.He said, however, ticket sales alone did not cover the operational costs of the museums. Only around 50 visitors come to the museum each month, he said, adding that the majority of funding came from the city budget. Sudihardjo said many things could be learned from studying the headstones not only the fact that many Indonesians suffered under Dutch control, but also the contributions of good Dutch people to the nation.Visitors to the museum both Dutch and Indonesian can learn from the headstones that good and bad people can be found side by side, anywhere, he added.

Valentine Fool

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:35:24 GMT

A funny/ sad poem for kids about the pain of not receiving a Valentines card

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:48:41 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

streetpoetry by H5N1

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:45:23 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:44:06 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:14:47 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Streetpoetry by H5N1

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:10:45 GMT

Streetpoetry by H5N1gruppoh5n1.blogspot.com

Prayer poem in Bristol

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:35:57 GMT

A grateful poem on almshouses in Bristol near the Old Vic.

Noted

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:02:40 GMT

This poem was written about a bus journey to work. It is based around the awkwardness I felt by a quick, momentary decision to avoid a polite communication from the postman that I saw at that place of work everyday.

Live it up, Drink it Down

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:54:59 GMT

Last year I ran writing workshops for a group of young mothers who were completing an Arts Award qualification. Over the course of a few months, they worked with artists and fashion professionals to develop poetry and clothing around the theme of wise words. The poems were performed at the Shoreditch Festival on the youth day. This is a poem from on Joanne, mother of Archie.

Richer Than Roses

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:59:48 GMT

Id send you perfume, chocolates and roses my love, Id sing you every love song around . Id even give you the moon and the stars that shine, Or every eclipse the world has found. Id dig you diamonds from a mine Id buy for you , Fetch you every pearl from the sea , Id give you all these things ,thats how precious you are, For God knows, Thats how much you mean to me. It all sounds romantic but lets be realistic, I cant give you more than my lifetime, But in good time youre sure to find, My love is richer than roses, And deeper than a mine. My love is older than time, But still the love I have is as young As innocence can be. The journey of life is a fantastic experience, All because you have love for me .By Paul McCann

Stone Dead Forever

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:40:40 GMT

Writings and scribblings on the stones of Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continued to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

Smile Strange

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:36:13 GMT

Heres some bright eyes on pink. Clocked while on a mad dash round and about looking for an outfit for a Valentines occasion. Down amongst the dead leaves in off Brick Lane, this lyric for a minute takes your mind off these clothes, that hair, the look, between the cooled remains of retro boutiques, vintage warehouses, second hand stalls.From this street here its only a hop and a skip to John Wolcots Epistle Lo, like a Cheshire cat our court will grin. It made this cat smile, anyway.

Hirta

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:44:26 GMT

short and snappy

Im Chasing Little Duckies

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:56:49 GMT

Im rowing in a curragh boat a mile from Inishfree .Look I can see a little duckthats swimming out to sea .One stroke ,push pull ,two strokes push pull ,its easy as can be ,I think Ill catch a little duckand take it home for tea .I grabbed that little duckie and I put it on my knee .I took it home to Daddy and me Mammy said ,Goodie! Weve got a duck for dinner now Ill pluck it ,One , two , three!If Im not here for breakfast ,Ill be rowing out to sea . By Paul McCann

Remembering The Beach

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:34:30 GMT

I remember as a child going to the beach , where sea weed and jelly fish where all within reach . I remember building sand castles with my hand and playing football in bare foot there on the sand . I remember as a child walking miles away ,when the tide had gone from shore on a summers day . I remember as a child looking out to sea , hoping that the tide wouldnt come in drowning me . I remember donkey rides along the shore line and how I wished it could be like this all the time . By Paul McCann

Teething Time

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:03:12 GMT

My little teeth are coming through I dont know what to doMy Mum gave me a teething ring to sit all day and chew .Dad said ,Youve got to get your teeth before you eat your meatI watch him crunching crispy bacon as I suck my teat .If only I had teeth like Dad Id crunch my teething ring,but all I have are red raw gums and my God how they sting . By Paul McCann

A Childs Dreams

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:59:18 GMT

AGrowing up in Belfastas a child we all had a head full of dreams and treasures to keep with games we played .

Deserted By The Bay

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:53:05 GMT

In a flat down by the bay , there lives a young lady , who sits by the window and just stares into space . She thinks of her lover who left her for another , and its hard to recover the smile on her face . She cries everyday ,since hes been gone and she tries to find a way to carry on cause she hurts inside . On a beach where the waves break , a ships moving over the swell of the ocean at the turn of the tide . Her eyes watch the sun set and her life feels so empty , the hard times are a plenty they wont go away . She weeps like a willow , on the edge of her pillow , and she waits for the sun to shine down by the bay . In the sound of her breathing her heavy hearts grieving and it leaves her uneasy with nothing to share . Shes lost in despair and nobody could ever understand the hurting if they have never been there . By Paul McCann

Forever

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:59:00 GMT

Found this on the floor outside the O2 while waiting for a friend. Its not actually called Forever, Its the last two lines of a Philip Larkin poem Solar, but when I was reading it, there on the floor beneath my feet, it was the word forever, that resonated with me in that moment.

real time i

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:57:24 GMT

A faulty busstop sign reminds us to keep our feet on the ground when it comes to relationships

Twittering Birds The Renga Bandstand

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:03:00 GMT

Twittering Birds is a Renga poem constructed in live performance in Loughborogh Queens Park by poet artist and renga master Paul Conneally.Renga is a Japanese linked poetry form with verses similar to haiku.

The Stone Man

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:38:11 GMT

Written after an encounter with a mime artist in the centre of Manchester

Bengaluru By Bus

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:18:55 GMT

On Dec 24th 2009, a train with 350 young Indians left Mumbai Central Station on a three week journey around India. This is an annual event called the Tata Jagriti Yatra, which translates as The Dream Journey. With the aim of awakening the spirit of entrepreneurship in young Indians, the participants leave the train each day to visit role models who are doing amazing projects with sanitation, skills training, education and other social realities.I joined the journey with a group of Southbank Centre artists to document the experience and bring the story of the Yatra back to the Southbank Centre. This is a list poem I wrote while traveling on a bus through Bengaluru in the State of Karnataka.

Turbines

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:08:05 GMT

Wind turbines. Love them or hate them.

The Boast of Danes Dyke

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:05:07 GMT

Personal response to ancient defensive earthworks near Flamborough

Bridlington North Bay Sunrise

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:39:50 GMT

The title says it all

Blockbuster

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:32:37 GMT

In praise of a natural wonder

Sewerby Cliffs

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:28:58 GMT

About the strength and longevity of the cliffs on the East Riding coast.

My House in Brid

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:13:48 GMT

A personal reflection about what makes a seaside home special

Bempton Cliffs

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:01:31 GMT

The poem is about great heights particularly of Bempton Cliffs.

Dont jump off the roof, Dad

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:04:13 GMT

A strange little song that our parents used to sing to a jolly tune when we were growing up in Portishead. I have no idea where it came from but oddly enough they later separated. It seems odd reading back on it as an adult the words are pretty cutting, and I love my Dad to bits. Funny how sometimes kids sing things they dont really understand ey

Lets Get Cozy

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:16:16 GMT

This astoundinglyrealistic fauxTFL sign was stuck to the vertical beam which help frame the big front windows on the top deck of my morning bus. This solidified my opinion that Route 88 is the awesomest bus in London.

THE OLD MILL

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:39:42 GMT

Written about snuff mills

Remembrance of Collins

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:34:52 GMT

The text readsGlide gently, thus for ever glide,O Thames! that other bards may seeAs lovely visions by thy sideAs now, fair river! come to me.O glide, fair stream! for ever so,Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,Till all our minds for ever flowAs thy deep waters now are flowingWilliam WordworthWritten in 1789.First published in 1798Composed upon the Thames near Richmond

Poem shop

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:38:51 GMT

You give them a word, they write you an original poem. Then they ask for a donation. www.poemshopnyc.com

Ask

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:34:54 GMT

I saw this after going to the Ed Rushca exhibition (http//www.southbankcentre.co.uk/minisite/edruschafiftyyearsofpainting/) and the single word seemed to stand out to me above the chaotic street below.

Poems on Wigan Station

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:27:13 GMT

There are some great poems etched into the waiting rooms at Wigan station unfortunately its difficut to get good photos of them due to the light reflection but now you have a good reason to visit the town!

The 1000 Verse Renga Project

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:20:16 GMT

Roger McGough This is a lovely idea.BBC Poetry SeasonThe free project, led by Japanese poetry expert Alan Summers, is the first attempt in Europe to produce a 1,000 verse Renga.Alan Summers, JapanUK 150 haiku renga poetinresidence, and June Wentland, BNES Reader Development Officer invited both the public and worldwide writers to jointly create a 1000 verse group linked poem called a senku renga.The first verse, and others, was composed on National Poetry Day 2009.Poets from London to Washington Mexico India Australasia mainland Europe and Africa sent in renga links (verses) in support and to achieve this goal of 1000 Verses.Over 1000 verses have been collected, and now we are in our second phase of this project. Updates on this project which started on National Poetry Day 2009 are available on the Area 17 blog http//area17blogspot.comThe second phase of this project is already underway.Once the ebook is created, this can be uploaded to this site or information to download it for free will be posted at Area 17.Alan Summersfounder/writer With WordsJapanUK 150 haiku and renga poetinresidenceAlan was also involved with the Lord Mayors Thames Festival 2008 with microonetoone haiku workshops and launching the With Words Haiku Journal notebook, and became a roving JapanUK 150 renga poetinresidence in Bristol Bath NHS and BSL renga festival with the University of Bristol. June Wentland is jointly involved with the 1000 Verse Renga Project, and both are planning a second venture in another part of the country later this year.Alan Summers June Wentland

Laura Dockrill reads The Pig by Roald Dahl

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:45:48 GMT

Poet Laura Dockrill reads her favourite childhood poem, The Pig by Roald Dahl, to celebrate the Imagine Childrens Festival. She says Roald Dahl has and always will be my largest inspiration. He is a prominent figure and inspiration for me and what I do. Flitting between poetry, short stories and novels for both adults and children he is really, very important for me and what I do. In my view, Dahl breaks boundaries, he is a storyteller in its most honest and natural form and was my first admiration for writing he taught me how to write.Bookseller Crow (www.booksellercrow.co.uk)A funny little story, whilst writing and living the dream (I say with sacasm) I have to do the odd job here and there to earn a little lolly so I can write. During a lunch break one day i stumble across Bookseller Crow, spend the majority of my break marvelling at the shop before I finally pluck up the courage to say erm...I write books...To make things better, Jonathan at Bookseller Crow opened Clapham Books, the first bookshop I ever discovered poetry, EVER, the first shop I ever bought my first poetry book with my own money, I think I even pulled out one of my milk teeth in that book shop!The rest is history...I now go past Bookseller Crow with a bright red face as Jon usually has made the most flamboyant beautiful window display out of my books, he is an incredible supporter of my work and my poetry and equally I am huge supporter of him and his cool little independent book shop!

John Hegley reads Tarantella by Hilaire Belloc

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:41:30 GMT

John Hegley reads his favourite childhood poem, to celebrate the Imagine Childrens Festival. He saysMister Brennan read this poem out to our class when I was tennish. I had never heard language doing such things. When I read it to other youngsters I point out that the poem is twotone and that it is worth thinking about making poems with variation in presentation.

Francesca Beard reads Cargoes by John Masefield

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:35:48 GMT

Poet Francesca Beard reads her favourite childhood poem, to celebrate the Imagine Childrens Festival. She saysI remember hearing it for the first time its quite a short poem but each stanza takes you into a different world. I loved the fact that I didnt understand all the words. I grew up on an island, with a lot of ships around it was the one that got me.

A Renga for St James Place

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:53:07 GMT

http//www.jarrold.com/content/renga.htm to see the full text.A Renga for St James Place considers the contemporary site, as well as its rich heritage and its connections with the history of Norfolk. It is the first artwork in the St James Collection an ambitious programme of contemporary art and events for St James Place Norwich, UK. The work was devised by Alec Finlay and Cath Campbell, the renga master was Ken Cockburn, and the renga was written by tenants from St James Place, and others interested in writing from Norwich.Renga is a 1,000 year old Japanese form of shared writing.It is a series of short verses linked together into one long poem, composed by a group. It works on the principle of link and shift each verse should link to the previous verse, but also shift away from it. The verses alternate between 3liners and 2liners.The overall effect of a Renga is a scattered mosaic of images covering a broad spectrum of atmosphere and mood. Martin Lucas, British Haiku Society

Smile again.

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:16:14 GMT

Found in a side street in Leeds.

Thought Among Flint

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:03:25 GMT

This poem was written as part of Hopscotch poetry on the Southbank from a found line in a book as inspiration.

Lucy Locket

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:49:40 GMT

My mother used to recite this rhyme to me, and for years my nickname was Lucy Locket. Even into teenagerhood (when I would be flush with embarrassment if one of my friends rang up and my mum would shout for me to come to the phone Lucy Locket!!)

Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey pt.III

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:21:20 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1798

Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey pt.II

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:19:00 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1798

Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey pt.I

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:50:58 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1798

To M.H

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:43:35 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1800

Point RashJudgment

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:39:08 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1800

There is an Eminence

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:33:24 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1800

To Joanna

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:29:49 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1800

Emmas Dell

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:15:10 GMT

William Wordsworth, 1800

Shakespeares Grave

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:45:53 GMT

When you open the door of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, you use a 15th Century Sanctuary door knocker...fugitives from justice could grab the ring and claim 37 days safety before facing trial.Then you see a sign This Way to Shakespeares Grave...and pass through the tall, light building to pay your respects, on a well worn tourist path. I was a bit sceptical about the whole business more interested in the door knocker than the idea of seeing where Shakespeare was buried. But seeing this poem redeemed the whole experience. Its brilliant. What would you put on your gravestone Answers on a postcard to Team GPS please!

The Fool

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:21:53 GMT

The fool doth think he is wiseBut the wise man knowshimself to be a fool. (From As You Like It, William Shakespeare)All around Stratford upon Avon are snippets of Shakespeares poetry from this statue in the town centre, to a garden of all the different species of tree that appear in his writing, to the names of pubs and bed and breakfasts. The whole town is a homage to poetry and our most famous bard. A sixteenth century global poetry system.

Scarborough Fair

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:24:20 GMT

This is a traditional folk song that can be traced back as far as 1670. I remember learning it in primary school in Scarborough. Its interesting how folk music travels the song having been derived from a Scottish Ballad, enduring through the centuries as an English folk song and then making its way over to the States to be covered by Simon and Garfunkle. More recently I heard it covered by the folk band The Imagined Village at a gig in Bristol, and it brought back all the feelings of home.

Be Our Guest

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:04:59 GMT

For a long time I didnt understand what this said and presumed bourgest was a mysterious French word, as yet unknown to me. I now realise its just a friendly welcome into the heart of Brixton.

Angry Dan

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:38:51 GMT

I found this at the bus stop heading north, above Southbank Centre on Waterloo Bridge. I wonder why Dan is so angry. Has he just missed the bus Have three of the same number come in a row, none of them the bus that he needs Did he manage to get one in time for where he needed to get to Is he still angry Poetry, stories, essays. They all start with questions. Its in the answers that we find the poetry, the thing worth sharing with others. A simple process to go through but one that can have a great big effect. The best things often start with the simplest ideas.

Out of Sight

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:21:57 GMT

I found this on a friends Facebook page. Someone called Jef Aerosol did this picture, using Richard Brautigans words. His was a short, sharp life. In 1984, at age 49, Richard Brautigan had recently moved to Bolinas, California, where he was living alone in a large, old house. He died of a selfinflicted .44 Magnum gunshot wound to the head. The exact date of his death is unknown, and his decomposed body was found by Robert Yench, a private investigator, on October 25, 1984. The body was found on the living room floor, in front of a large window that looked out over the Pacific Ocean. It is speculated that Brautigan may have ended his life over a month earlier, on September 14, 1984, after talking to former girlfriend Marcia Clay on the telephone. Brautigan once wrote, All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds.http//www.brautigan.net/poetry.html

My Helping Poem

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:35:04 GMT

Written by Jadesola, aged 6

Canoodling at Southbank Centre

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:12:45 GMT

The seating instructions on the entrance sign at Wagamamas in Southbank Centre

Inconciente

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:01:34 GMT

al puro estilo barroco

Love is a losing game

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:59:30 GMT

love

Redundancias

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:56:04 GMT

amor

Mississippi Overflow

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:09:42 GMT

This poem relates the story of a man on a rooftop watching the rising water as the Mississippi overflow began to flood St Louis in 1993 .

Castaway On An Inner Sea

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:02:26 GMT

In a space where we can hide words are like bangor boats boats ,afloat on an inner sea.

Words To That Effect

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:57:51 GMT

Where youre at and where I want to be is someplace that we can both reate to.

Lost In A Fog

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:52:55 GMT

Sometimes its easy to get lost . But when youre a stranger in town and the fog comes down theres nowhere to go .

Metaphoric Moment

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:46:24 GMT

Poetry as a metapho describes words as pictures and imagrythat looks deeper into the well of expression .

Language of the skyline

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:18:49 GMT

I visited this great art space, betonsalon, which had been doing a project about its local area with architects and artists. This huge score is made up of a new language the shapes of the letters reflect the architecture of the buildings all around. A woman called Anna who works at betonsalon explained that the book had been part of a performance with some opera singers, who interpreted this language musically, singing each line. Its a beautiful idea I think I wonder what the language of the architecture of where I live would look and sound like. For more info on Annas project in Paris, go to www.betonsalon.net

Mysterious Barricades

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:06:29 GMT

Im not at all sure what this means the end of pacified time, mysterious barricades but I like it. Found near a very new part of Paris, a board on one of those spindly new trees that are planted in the middle of huge new developments. Former flour mills have been converted into office space, with some residential, some of the university and an art space www.betonsalon.netI guess sometimes poetry can give you a feeling or a meaning even without a literal or logical understanding of what it means. The little wooden tree trunk against the gleaming lights of the massive buildings all around only added to the meaning I found in this poem.

Les chewing gums

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:43:42 GMT

On the Paris Metro I came across this surreal sign my french is half remembered gcse, so apologies for the translation, but I think its something like thisCrazy LoveBits of chewing gum are great romanticsthese artichoke hearts attach themselves very quickly.But poor things, theyre rarely loved in return,they search desperately for true lovewhile the promise of a fusional loveis there in all corridors the rubbish bin!Now I know why the French are considered such romantics even the subway signage is love poetry..

I Will Wash Away

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:30:30 GMT

I found this written on a pavement in Brixton. It began to rain soon after I took the photo, and I remembered Shakespeares sonnet 65Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, But sad mortality oersways their power, How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose action is no stronger than a flower O, how shall summers honey breath hold out Against the wreckful siege of battering days, When rocks impregnable are not so stout, Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decaysO fearful meditation! where, alack, Shall Times best jewel from Times chest lie hidOr what strong hand can hold his swift foot back Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid O, none, unless this miracle have might, That in black ink my love may still shine bright.Written in a white chalk that was about to disappear, rather than a black ink, I couldnt help but wonder whether there was a beauty that can exist only in these fleeting things.

mmer DAmbra

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:29:09 GMT

The stars a million eyeson this moonless nightbore into my soulthe very wisps of who i amseeing through the lieswith their keen sighti try to get out of their visions holdthey know i am the lost lamboh, to leave their gazemust i face myself so soonstill they stare into meseeing what i have yet to learnWho am I a labyrinth mazeThe beat of my heart its very tunetheir sight i wish to fleeYet, i still must take this lifes turn

Silver Wings by Summer DAmbra

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:25:56 GMT

By a poet who i thought deserves to be on here

Betjemantra

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:45:24 GMT

John Betjeman saved St Pancras station from demolition in 1967. Now, the majesty of this building is enhanced by his lines of his poetry on the upper floor, near the Paul Day sculpture.

Androgony

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:13:45 GMT

a womans attempt at seduction

Timothy Winters by Charles Causley

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:14:54 GMT

I find this a very moving poem which says so much about the plight of a deprived young boy, I imagine in the 1940s. Timothy has no concept of himself as being someone who might deserve anyones support or pity, but just a child who is busily engaged in living his life against the odds. The final two stanzas are particularly poignant.

The Offer

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:35:54 GMT

Fourtime Lambda Literary Award nominee Adam Lowe (author of Troglodyte Rose) rejects heterosexual hegemony and does it his own way. Laid back, sharp and sweet.

Changing Coastline

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:24:36 GMT

The East Riding on the north east of England. It has a variety of landscapes. Hard chalk wolds, rolling agricultural plains and the changing fragile holderness coast.

On the pier

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:19 GMT

just something I wroteits not particularly brilliant but it just came to me

Ghost Trains

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:49:34 GMT

Near the Bolivian salt flats we visited a train graveyard full of these abandoned locomotives. It was in the middle of a desolate waste land, with some coachs still railed onto the broken train tracks. I think the translation is Here is the Life. It needs a mechanic with experience. Urgently.

Memorable Memorial

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:12:22 GMT

Part of a mural on Stockwell roundabout , in memory of local people who died in the first world war. The line is taken from Laurence Binyons poem The Fallen. Every time I go past the mural on the rail replacement bus from Stockwell to Brixton I notice something new about it. Painted by Brian Barnes with help from Stockwell Park school children.

Ze wacht aan de waterkant op een fles

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:11:21 GMT

ze wacht aan de waterkant op een flesmet daarin een rubberboot gerolder kwam al eens een fles langsmet daarin een luchtschipmaar daarvoor houdt ze niet almaandenlang haar adem inJet Crielaard

Cardiganshire Banks

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:40:23 GMT

Cardiganshire banks are ancient walls. They are high and wide very like the wallbanks you can find in Ireland. Grass and gorse and all sorts of flowers grow on their broad tops which tower over you as you drive down the narrow lanes.

Pentre Ifan

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:28:48 GMT

This is a famous neolithic dolman. The mound with which it was once covered has worn away over the centuries and so its not immediately clear that its front faces away from the sea. Even so its connection with the sea and the shoreline is obvious. It is an amazing piece of engineering (if thats the right word for something made long before engines) Set among sheep and ancient banks it has great power.

Psychose des Oiseaux

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:17:43 GMT

A humorous Bird Flu parody of Hitchcocks The Birds and Psycho. The artist, Jeff Aerosol, seems to be juxtaposing the feelings of horror and suspense evoked in both films, against the harmless inquisitiveness of the birds, thus mocking the outcry of panic that arose from the virus outbreak.(H5N1 was the name given to the Avian Flu virus)

Railroad Crossing

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:01:19 GMT

These railroad crossing signs can be found all over the Southern States. They seem to invite simple word play, for they can read Rail Crossing, Crossing Road, Railroad Crossing or any number of variations. And theres a playfulness in making a crossing sign in the shape of a cross.

dog loss

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:29:32 GMT

gun dog turned pet.

Carn Menyn

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:20:06 GMT

This is the source of the bluestones of Stonehenge. It is a striking and desolate spot at least in the rain and wind. The stones werent blue, but they were connected with springs all around the hills. This is my attempt to share some of the ancient feel of the place

Sonnet XXX by William Shakespeare

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:25:28 GMT

One of the many poems to be found on the walls of Leiden http//www.muurgedichten.nl/index.html. De Muurgedichten van Leiden.

is this love

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:40:06 GMT

When you know shes the one

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:28:59 GMT

my view of love

Abergavenny Food Festival Poem

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:49:45 GMT

This poem was created by poet Ric Hool from comments added to a sandwich board at the Abergavenny Food Festival in September 2009.Contributors included Scott Quinnell, Levi Roots and Monty Don.

Ode to the Northern Line at rush hour

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:19:30 GMT

I can only imagine the frustration that prompted this bit of wordplay. Lets say 45 minutes with your face wedged into a strangers armpit on the way to work. Yep thatd do it.

Ancient Well

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:10:52 GMT

This poem triues to evoke the atmosphere at the ruined chapel at Madron Well in Cornwall.

What the hill said

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:02:52 GMT

Alderley Edge has always been associated with magic Alan Garners Weirdstone of Brisingamen is set here because of the legends associated with the place. The hill is riddled with caves and mineworkings and the topography is confusing. this is aplace its very easy to get lost in.

Holme Fen

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:49:30 GMT

I dont have a photo of this but youll find one at http//www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/norfolklife/PlaceinHistory/content/89WhittleseyMere.aspxThe info gives a different date than I use in the poem, but Im sticking with the date I was given when I visited the place.

Where The Wind Sweeps Down To The Sea

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:52:23 GMT

I used to live in Fleetwood. This is a description of being on the beach when its wild. Its often wild in Fleetwood! I wrote it, probably because I was feeling a little homesick for the beach. I hope it conjures up an image of the place.

Whatever You Make Of It

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:30:26 GMT

I saw this poem on a wall as I was walking down a backstreet of Bario Brasil, Santiago, in January 2009. I was trying to find the park and had got lost. The mural stopped me in my tracks, in the middle of an otherwise generic street. Having been learning Spanish I stood for a few minutes trying to work out its meaning. I came up with the translation Some people make the sun a simple yellow spot, Others make a simple yellow spot their own sun. I couldnt stop thinking about it all day, wondering whether I had got the translation right and what the artist had intended. It was certainly beautiful whatever the meaning.

Waites

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:09:29 GMT

About the bakery

9.00 Universe

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:36:07 GMT

I clipped this snippet from a TV listing years ago, and have kept it ever since. To me it expresses everything, in miniature a scrap of print, of pop black and white, yin and yang, life and death enormity and fragility. I recognise both the sense of vivid creation, and the allencompassing void an endless birth and rebirth. Stars are bundles of energy, connectors, points on a map (even if the map is really only a question mark). When we lose our star, what next We can only keep going until we reach the next point part of the pattern.

Johnny Marr on Ed Ruschas NOISE by Fiona Skinner

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:48:22 GMT

This film by Fiona Skinner about Ed Ruschas painting Noise, featuring The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr won the Hayward gallerys Ed Ruscha Film Challenge. Ed Ruschas paintings explore the range of associations that come with how a word looks or sounds, and the ambiguous responses that everyday words can evoke. Just as Ed Ruscha began to see common typography as art, so you can begin to see found words as poetry.

T.S. Eliot reading The Waste Land

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:33:49 GMT

April is the cruellest month Recording of the poem by the poet himself set to some pictures. Nothing fancy. Just to get the audio up for anybody who has never heard him do it before.

do not lean against doors

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:26:29 GMT

Excellent advice in most situations, but especially when you are in a small transparent capsule far above the earth.

aint wet

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:12:44 GMT

Found in a New York City subway. It wasnt.

monster

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:09:24 GMT

Someone made this by wedging plastic cups into a wire fence. I generally disapprove of littering, but I approve of this.Around the same time, there were also cups in a wire fence next to Old Street tube station, arranged to spell ZIGGY STARDUST later they were reconfigured to spell ALADDIN SANE. Marvellous.

smells like caliper boy!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:56:51 GMT

It sure does.

bet 10, win absolutely nothing.

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:52:54 GMT

Well, at least theyre honest.

alphabet of brooke shields

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:45:37 GMT

I found this written on a building near Old Street tube station. There was a traffic pole nearby with a sticker of Nick Nolte (with the word NOLTE in large letters) stuck to it. I figure its a convergence point for nonsensical celebinspired street buffoonery.

observe everything. admire nothing.

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:30:29 GMT

A sticker at the bus stop gave me hardtofollow advice.

cryptic cinema

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:27:41 GMT

Piece of paper taped to a gate in Fish Island, Hackney. I like to imagine this gate as a portal to some sort of Lynchian universe i.e. you go in as Bill Pullman and come out as Balthazar Getty.

collapsing collagen grease

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:21:28 GMT

Is collapsing collagen grease some graffitiwriters tag Considering this was posted in an area of Hackney called Fish Island, anythings possible.

sgod on

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:11:04 GMT

I stumbled across this Islington park by happy accident, just before dusk on a spring day. The square was full of daffodils. I did not have any sgods.

people who stick bills on walls

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:57:59 GMT

I found this pasted to a window of an abandoned pub beside Hackney Wick train station. I love the contradiction implied that someone has gone to the trouble to print and paste up a poster to announce their dislike of people who do that exact thing. Recursive genius.

Dont Worry, Be Happy

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:54:15 GMT

the famous words of Indian mystic Meher Baba. not who you first thought of right

Mash

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:33:04 GMT

A Poem about Mashed Potatoes left in a shop during International Put a Poem in a Shop Week. http//bit.ly/PoemsInAShopMashI was at a village fetewith you in the sunshine,hand in handbouncy castle, tombola, homemade jamI judged the mashed potato contestgiving marks for presentation, flavour, consistency.The winner, a dimpled woman of Amish appearance.Whats your secret I asked before I woke.Its about love, she said, all about love.

LOST WEEKEND.

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:28:09 GMT

poem about being stranded in a seaside town,

GREAT RIOT OF BRISTOL

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:55:57 GMT

Poem about the political reform riot of 1831, Queens square,Bristol.

the title of this poem is human

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:31:09 GMT

a page of our multivolume DNA sequence, an exhibit in the Wellcome Collection.I found the exhibition inspiring and it tapped into some things I was working on...although I did go in there to see full on scientific specimensnot to cut straight to the artistic response...maybe I was in the wrong room.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Alternative Guy Fawkes Night

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:23:45 GMT

Joaos alternative Guy Fawkes night featured revolutionary slogans in a basement...my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Except after C

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:18:21 GMT

Strange letters up near the ceiling in the back office of the cinema.No one knows why theyre there.I think it is something to do with breaking rules...or exceptions to the rule...my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

One stop caff

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:13:28 GMT

Where else but Soho. Well perhaps spring rolls would be more accurate, but this sounds better. And there are indeed a fair few hangover fryeries in the neighbourhood. Thank goodness. This is outside one of them.Hm... now where was it exactly Id like it to have been on Ingestre Place, just because it sounds a bit like indigestion, but Im fairly convinced it was DArblay Street.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Rudolph And The Orphan Child

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:29:46 GMT

Childs poem about a lonely child at an orphange who wishes for a friend at Christmas

i Test

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:20:59 GMT

i Test is written upon the sloping ceiling of the Ground Floor Hallway as you enter Toynbee Studios home of Artsadmin. It was commissioned by Artsadmin, written by myself and launched today and is part of my Poem as Landmarks project. The idea for where the poem should be placed was by photographer Hugo Glendinning who then photographed the piece which was published in a book to celebrate thirty years of Artsadmin on yesterday 15th Dec 2009. What I like is the security camera and the poem.

Between The Battlefields

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:15:54 GMT

This is a narrative piece about no mans land , a place where enemies met and shared some conversation about their families but the next day they were back fighting each other again .

Piccadilly Rising (Billboard)

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:31:52 GMT

from 2008 through to 2010 this quote from my poem Piccadilly Rising (the video is in on my GPS page) is upon a hoarding in Piccadilly on the corner of Lever St. I like the way you can see piccadilly expanding if you look at the reflection. The hoarding will be taken down once the building behind it is built. it is under expansion.

Images Of Christmas

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:59:24 GMT

Spoken Poetry on a slide Show with images and words

Flags

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:27:56 GMT

In (PUT DATE HERE) This poem was commissioned by Northern Quarter written by myself, then embedded along tib street. The poem stretched a mile. It felt like being tatooed into the skin of the city my pride and joy. The thing is that as the years have gone by the poem has depleted. My signature in the street and a few verses remain You can see here where the poem has been taken away and not replaced (see the lighter flags) there is something poetic about the disappearing poem, stanza by stanza, something beautiful. I shall put the text up here in time. City Life Magazine at the time said you can read lemn sissays poem or walk all over it. I agree

RAIN

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:20:34 GMT

Raiin is a perfect example of a poem in the public space. I likee to engage the eye and the mind. I like the poem to reflect the simplicity of page and ink and for the words to do the work. Can you work this one out. I love the Satellite Dish.

Hardys Well

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:16:01 GMT

This poem was written by myself and put on the wall in which year. Not sure. Could have been about the turn of the century, 2000. This poem is up but this is a different picture. I shall put the text on all these poems soon

Hardys Well

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:12:43 GMT

This poem is written on the side of a pub called you guessed it Hardys Well . It is the first of my Poems as Landmarks Project because it has become a landmark. You cant make a landmark. People choose what is or isnt a landmark. There are thousands of statues in London, only some are referred to by people as a reference to place. This poem is a word play around the letter W and I wrote it to see if a person whod spent a night in the pub could read it. I love to see people stood backs bending, necks craning mouthing the words.

Catching Numbers

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:04:33 GMT

In September 2007 Shudehill Station an extremely modern interchange nearest to Victoria train station in Manchester was finally built. GMPTE (Greater Manchester Public Transport Executive commissioned myself to write a piece on travel. I love manchester. I travelled here on public transport and into my dreams and I wanted to reflect that in the poem. Originally it was used on the boardings around the building site. To my surprise it was transposed onto the finished shudehill project. I would like to ahve some say on the lay out but I am proud as punch that it is there.

Invisible Kisses

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:56:00 GMT

In 2006 (or was it 2005) I was poet in residence at Poetry International whereas I am now artist in residence at The Southbank Centre where Poetry international is held. In promoting poetry beyond the stage I instigated Poems By Light a series of work displayed against the South Side () of the royal festival hall. This was a projection of the poem Invisible Kisses which two lovers saw and then used then contacted me to use the poem at their wedding.

Piccadilly Risiing (video)

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:42:03 GMT

In 2006 property company Argent commissioned me to write a poem about Manchester Piccadilly. Knowing that I was leaving the fair city of Manchester (that has been so nourishing to me) I wanted to write something that was secretly personal. All poetry is personal (to the writer) really. I know hard working business people will have watched this at conferences. They saw their propety investments typified in the positive tone of the poem. But for me, it means so much on a different level. Piccadilly hass been the heart of Mancehster since I first arrived, and the heart of me. The poem is not inlaid in piccadilly but accompanied this video. I have always wanted it to be inlaid in the stone there. The Poem is called Piccadilly Rising.

Wanda

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:44:00 GMT

elegy

Wanda

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:29:58 GMT

An Elegy

The Scholar Gypsy by Robert Browning

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:51:03 GMT

I still find so memorable the closing line of Stanza 2 of Brownings longer imaginings of how blissfully idyllic it must be to cast off the burden of the daily grind and learn from Nature rather than Academe (Oxford). I first read this hopelessly fanciful poem when I was 14 or 15, and that line summarised for me all the country trips we used to take to Fairsnape and Parlick, the hills to the east of Garstang, and to Nicky Nook and Brock Bottoms, noted local beauty spots to the east of the Fylde Coast.

Starlings

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:08:39 GMT

An observational poem about a ball of starlings seen near my home in Whitstable.

Blackthorn Winter

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:02:50 GMT

This was written during a poetry workshop I led at Northward Hill RSPB reserve. Part of their land is an old Cherry Orchard.

Osanna By Penny Harper

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:59:02 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail

A Drying Day

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:55:56 GMT

A poem about pegging out the washing with my Grandma at her house in Chalk.

Polesworth Pact By Sarah Armstrong

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:55:45 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail

Listen By Gill Learner

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:52:08 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail

Gods dance within us By Garrie Fletcher.

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:48:31 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail

The Gilt Of Cain

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:13:47 GMT

In September 8th 2008 Bishop Desmond Tutu unveiled my poem Gilt of Cain upon a sculpture in Fen Court, The City of London. Gilt of Cain was commissioned by The City of London in remembrance of Wilberforce. The poem weaves the language of the stock exchange with biblical referrences and the site was once of Woolbnorth Church where Rev newton who wrote Amazing Grace gave his anti slavery sermons. I would like to upload the text of the poem too.

What If (video)

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:50:39 GMT

The poem is part The Contemporary Earth Exhibition currently showing at The Royal Academy in London through December 2009 and January 2010. The poem is written and performed by myself with music by Gary Crosby on Keyboards and Peter Edwards on bass. It was inspired by Darwin and a trip to the arctic which I made in 2008 with Cape Farewell. It was filmed at the Southbank Centre who helped bring us together to write the piece and was broadcast on Channel Four as part of its three minute woders in 2009. Fans of the work include sculpture Antony Gormley who is also part of the Contemporary Earth Exhibition.

I like Jakobson

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:37:02 GMT

The political slogan I like Ike /ay layk ayk/, succinctly structured, consists of three monosyllables and counts three diphthongs /ay/, each of them symmetrically followed by one consonantal phoneme, /.lkk/. The makeup of the three words presents a variation no consonantal phonemes in the first word, two around the diphthong in the second, and one final consonant in the third. A similar dominant nucleus /ay/ was noticed by Hymes in some of the sonnets of Keats. Both cola of the trisyllabic formula I like /Ike rhyme with each other, and the second of the two rhyming words is fully included in the first one (echo rhyme), /layk/ /ayk/, a paronomastic image of a feeling which totally envelops its object. Both cola alliterate with each other, and the first of the two alliterating words is included in the second /ay/ /ayk/, a paronomastic image of the loving subject enveloped by the beloved object. The secondary, poetic function of this electional catch phrase reinforces its impressiveness and efficacy. from Linguistics and Poetics by Roman Jakobsonmy poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

KINGS COLLEGE HOSPITAL (CAMBERWELL), NOVEMBER by Julie Lumsden

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:18:30 GMT

Julie Lumsden captures perfectly the oldfashionedness of Kings College Hospital next to Ruskin Park on the main North to South route through Camberwell. Ruskin Park and Kings hold special affiliations for our family as our late daughter, Rebecca, died in Kings in 1985 following a liver transplant, and I can remember how griefstricken we were in Ruskin Park on the afternoon after her death in the morning. There is just the right mixture of joy and awe in Julie Lumsdens recollection of a memory after her childs birth in the Maternity Ward at Kings.

Rheindahlen by Julie Lumsden

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:52:21 GMT

JHQ Rheindahlen is the Joint HQ of British and other NATO forces in Munchengladbach, Germany the families of numerous British military services have lived there since the early 1950s in what amounts to a reasonable sized town rather than just a military base. Julie Lumsden recalls some memories which Rheindahlen means for her.

Poems around the Trafalgar Square Chirstmas Tree

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:35:42 GMT

Poets Kit Wright and Kevin CrossleyHolland were commissioned to write two new poems which are displayed around the tree. CrossleyHolland has written Snow and Spruce Forest, a new version of the famous Norwegian poem Sn og granskog by Tarjei Vesaas. While Kit Wrights poem Tree Song is based on lines, images and ideas from poems by Westminster Primary children. The poems were commissioned by the Poetry Society working in partnership with the Royal Norwegian Embassy and celebrates the City of Oslos annual gift of a Christmas Tree to the people of London.

Death in Leamington by John Betjeman

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:37:59 GMT

As one gets older and discovers that ones older relatives are not immortal, homes for older people suddenly begin to feature in ones thinking. Perhaps more than any other evocation I have read, Betjemans Death in Leamington (a noted UK retirement town) makes me shudder most.

Greenaway by John Betjeman

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:28:07 GMT

I did try to learn to swim when I was seven or eight we were bussed to weekly lessons from junior school but I was always fearful, and the lessons were cancelled because of the Polio Scare of the early 1950s. It was not until I read Greenaway in my teens that I found a fellow swimmingphobe in John Betjeman. To this day despite living on the coast, still I cannot swim. Betjeman is too often seen as a jolly cove when it is his shuddering poems such as Greenaway and Death in Leamington that I find most powerful.

October

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:46:01 GMT

OctoberThe stars are golden as the leaves, October winds sing in the trees.Evening whispers with a ghostly sigh,And a pale moon rides in a sapphire sky.This poem is simple and one of the few Ive written for children, and it deals with my favorite time of year (and my favorite subject for my seasonal poetry). Halloween is the only holiday I really enjoy I love the colors, sounds, smells, and textures of fall. Fall is so sweetly melancholy, reminding us gently of both the ephemeral nature of life and the equally ephemeral life in natureI hope that you will check out my book of poetry, Elementa. You can see the cover at the following address http//www.flickr.com/photos/grafixer/2342218363/in/set72157604208109349/You can read Luan Gaines review of Elementa at http//www.curledup.com/elementa.htmand read her interview at http//www.curledup.com/intfgoble.htm

Daylight comes, the race begins

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:47:16 GMT

A simple containerpoem

The Sweet Potato

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:32:00 GMT

I Think Therefore I Yam

Boys be ambitious

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:54:07 GMT

My friend Chris runs a great blog at http//whirringcat.tumblr.com/ where he puts photos from Japan. Im not sure where this one is located, but he lives in Osaka, so thats where Im placing this photo. I like it a lot and it really sums up his wit and creative findings.

My Thanks to Flamborough

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:39:04 GMT

A chance to say thanks to an old friend who has always been there.

Thesauramisu

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:14:59 GMT

Short and funny play of words about Thesaurus and Tiramisu

Universe

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:08:01 GMT

This is taken from The Journey to le Repentir, an immensely ambitious collection of poems, the fruit of more than a dozen years work by Commonwealth prizewinning Guyanese author Mark McWatt.Strands of autobiography, a deeply sensuous ecology of place, historical narratives the inner world of imagination and the often difficult realities of the postcolonial nation are interwoven in the collections bold but carefully worked out architecture. The four parts of the book represent at one level linear phases of a life childhood adolescence and young manhood maturity and the first intimations of ageing. Within each section there is an intersecting narrative sequence that sometimes complements, sometimes expands and sometimes run counter to the personal narratives. http//www.peepaltreepress.com/singlebookdisplay.aspisbn9781845230814auid133

Black Waters

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:51:51 GMT

Self Explanatory

Home on the Tide

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:25:33 GMT

Poem inspired by my father returning from a trip at sea coming into Hull Docks on his fishing trawler.

Middleton Churchyard

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:10:29 GMT

The inspiration for this poem came from quiet reflection thinking about who built the old wall surrounding Middleton Churchyard.

Thunderstorms W H Davies

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:00:58 GMT

Verse inspired by the raging skies of the Brecon Beacons

Under Ben Bulben WB Yeats

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:46:56 GMT

The last three lines from this poem adorn his gravestone in Drumcliffe..

The Eve of St. Agnes

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:27:27 GMT

It was in this house that John Keats finished his poem The Eve of St. Agnes, when staying there in 1819, with a certain Mr and Mrs Snook...Here are the first two verses of this epic poem, which is all about the superstition that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rites on the eve of St. Agnes that is, she would go to bed without any supper, undress herself so that she was completely naked and lie on her bed with her hands under the pillow, looking up to the heavens and not to look behind. Then the proposed husband would appear in her dream, kiss her, and feast with her.

To Whom It May Concern

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:03:20 GMT

I work at Southbank Centre, and artist in residence Lemn Sissay does a lovely thing where he sends round a poem to all members of staff here, once a month. Its a great way of us all just taking a moment to look away from our email boxes for a few minutes, and enjoy a moment with a poem. This morning I found this incredible poem by Adrian Mitchell waiting for me, thanks to Lemn. It gave me goosebumps. On Wednesday this week were hosting an evening of poetry in celebration of Adrian Mitchell, which promises to be a really special event (the super long hyperlink says it all!). http//www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literaturespokenword/tickets/patienceagbabicarolannduffyjohnhegleyjackiekaylizlochheadrogermcgoughbrianpattHere is Lemns email that introduces the poemDear ColleaguesI hope youre well. Spend five minutes of your day in the fresh air of a poem, one each month from now until the end of time. Todays is by Adrian Mitchell. We read together at SOAS in 2008. Within a few months he passed away. A year later to the month on Wednesday 9th December we host A Celebration of Adrian Mitchell at The Queen Elizabeth Hall. Attendees include poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Rosen, Brian Patten and more. The title of his new book Tell Me Lies derives from his most popular poem To Whom It May Concern. You can hear and see his electrifying reading at the The Royal Albert Hall on June 11th 1965 by clicking here. Youll see Ginsberg listening too. Sincerely Lemn Sissay D.Litt. Southbank centre Artist in residenceSupported by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation

The hours coins tossed in a wishing well

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:16:03 GMT

Part of This Water Refreshes, art by Sophia HadjipapaGeewww.artinoddplaces.org

Sexy Pigeons

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:42:53 GMT

Words found taped to the streets of San Francisco

Paris Street Poetry Outside Habitat Shop

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:23:56 GMT

I found these words scrawled on the wall outside the Habitat shop in Paris.

Little Voices

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:39:43 GMT

how use of drugs and alcohol can create an alternate reality

gold

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:22:22 GMT

found poetry

Mary Suffered Scriptures

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:07:18 GMT

A threeword poem found within the Nicene Creed found at St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine in St. Augustine, Florida, USA.

The Slithergadee

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:41:20 GMT

The butterwalk is a covered pavement arcade in Totnes high street. One of the pillars that supports the overhanging upper floors was being repaired, and had plywood shuttering around it. Someone had used this opportunity to write a poem on the plywood.

noone belongs here more than you

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:06:31 GMT

Found stenciled at the entrance to the Volkspark. A poetic stanza if Id ever seen one something good to remember as you travel around strange cities.

Capture A Horse

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:35:34 GMT

Poetry Slide Show Original works

As you like it

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:25:57 GMT

Shakespeare is said to have written As You Like It, whilse he was staying at Billesley Manor, in 1600

Daffodils

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:04:41 GMT

The Lakes gave Wordsworth what is probably his single most enduring image. In 1802, he and his sister Dorothy were walking by Ullswater, saw a host of golden daffodils and a poem was born.

The fountains waters

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:42:59 GMT

Poet Wilfrid Wilson Gibson wrote these lines for the fountain erected in Hexham market place in 1901, which still stands today..

Auld Lang Syne

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:03:13 GMT

These famous words sung to welcome and celebrate the new year were penned by Robert Burns during his time spent at Ellis Land Farm, Dunfries.

Lord Byrons Grave

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:44:01 GMT

Byron George Gordon Noel, 6th LORD BYRON (178801824), poet, buried here.

Hello

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:04:04 GMT

Spam email can have a poetic quality the attempt by the sender to sound friendly and familiar highlights all that is unfriendly and slightly perverse about modern day consumerism.

Love

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:45:45 GMT

Fading words, scratched into the most unlikiest of locations here is a rusty telephone wiring box, 8ft off the ground, hanging under the bridge that leads towards to the Royal Festival Hall...

Travelling Cinema

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:32:36 GMT

A memory shared and a person revealed.

Peace and War

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:09:57 GMT

A bilingual and concrete poetic attempt to make war a thing of the past.

Autumnal Dying

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:28:25 GMT

A nature poem that i did on a terribly cold windy day,poetry is all around us you just know how to see and feel it and get it down exactly how you are feeling at that exact time.

Broken Streets

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:22:03 GMT

I wrote this poem after seeing so many homeless people in nottingham,i find it disgusting in this so called rich country that this happens.I always take time out to talk to any homeless person who approaches and are due to volunteer at Framework in nottingham after christmas which deals with helping homeless and vulnerable people.I have a debut poetry book out entitled The Awakening Soul which can be found via this linkhttp//www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/924512 ,just paste into your browser...

RNLI Appeal

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:59:36 GMT

It is fascinating to have watched the onward march of advertising over the 63 years (so far) of my life.As printing has become cheaper, and the understanding of what will make people part with their hardearned (or inherited) dosh, charities are using direct mail increasingly designed with the wit and originality of the nimble minds beloved of advertising agencies. The envelope I found pushed through our letterbox featured a vivid picture of a modern style lifeboat ploughing through mountainous seas with Sir Williams measured words emerging from the briny.Skilful and certainly of appeal to an older generation such as mine.

Violence as Poetry

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:31:52 GMT

Neon installation on the wall of a disused building next to Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, which was one of the largest and most important crossings between East and West Berlin

Le Kapital cest fun

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:25:22 GMT

LEKAPITALCESTFUN,LECOMMUNISMECESTNUFGraffito found on base of statue of Marx and Engles, Berlin

Styro Foam Ones

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:20:28 GMT

STYROFOAMONESFound in the gents, Kaffee Burger, Torstrasse, Berlin, during Poetry Hearings Festival 2009

woodworms, slow poetry trail

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:05:42 GMT

Poem and installation by David MorleyWarwick academic and poet Professor David Morley recently contributed over 80 poems to a slow art poetry trail in woodland at Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire. The slow poems are written into natural materials to form a woodland trail and will remain there until they naturally fade and disappear.

St. Pancras Enters Metroland by AE

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:47:41 GMT

We Brits have not been too bad at recognizing our winners of the wars which created the UK and the Empire (now the Commonwealth, but the Empire was still in its death throes in my childhood), but our great creators seem to me to be less lovingly celebrated. The John Betjeman statue at St. Pancras is an honourable exception, but I am so grateful to the Guardian diarist AE for penning this commemorative piece it can be read in full at facebook.com/cjheyworth which is as real a location in 2009 as are the scores of books on shelves from which I have learned so much about people places.

window dressing

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:20:02 GMT

wise words in a window

Colour fun

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:44:21 GMT

a pome to appeal to young children it uses little words and also some of the words are on colour to make them stand out

Best teachers

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:31:53 GMT

This poem shows the appreciation of a student to their two favourite teachers.

Whipped Cream

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:20:32 GMT

This poem uses alliteration to tell the absoulte brillance of whipped cream

I have a dream

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:07:57 GMT

this pome was writen by Emmet Friel so that he could reach his opinions on crime and meany other things out to other people.

Deep Emotions

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:20:36 GMT

Poems and an original song by paul mccann

The Walled City

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:54:38 GMT

A title often given to Derry to describe poeticly its famous walls.

Remember Barbara by Jacques Prevert (trans L. Ferlinghetti)

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:13:16 GMT

I think I was in my late teens or early twenties when first I found this while investigating work by Ferlinghetti who had become a great hero I must have been in my I love all things French and American phase, worshipping Juliet Greco and Francoise Hardy, as well as numerous Nouvelle Vague muses, and delighting in looser poetic forms than were familiar in English literature. I recall Yevtushenko was much touted too thanks to the slim Penguin Poets affordable editions. I shall look something out of his too. It did not stream with rain when I visited Brest though!

Short Graffiti Poem

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:12:35 GMT

I found this short poem on a boarded up fence surrounding a building site in the Middle Meadow Walk, Edinburgh, that was covered in graffiti.

Graffiti Poem

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:09:34 GMT

I found this poem on a boarded up fence surrounding a building site in the Middle Meadow Walk, Edinburgh, that was covered in graffiti.

Cigarette ends please

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:06:13 GMT

The original message of this poem is to tell people to put there cigarettes into the bin but the other message is that it is telling to put an end to there smoking.

Watching You

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:48:55 GMT

This poem is for posters informing people that there are CCTV cameras watching the building. Its actually the name of a local band and the poster in the Nerve Centre window is advertising a gig thet they are doing soon in the Nerve Centre.

Royal Bastion

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:43:34 GMT

This poem tells you a piece of Derrys history, with the ending a mystery

Tell Your Story Verbal Arts Centre

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:33:21 GMT

This poem tells us that the Verbal Arts Centre is a place where you can tell your story.

My Goodness My Guinness

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:26:02 GMT

This poem uses the technique of alliteration to show how wanted the guinness is. Also the picture gives across this message.

A breath of fresh air

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:13:50 GMT

This poem tells us of the forced ban of smoking because smokers are polluting the air. The forced smoking ban is giving us fresh air to breathe.

Snake by D H. Lawrence

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:55:35 GMT

Snake is probably the single poem which came along to free me from the constraints of so much earlier English poetry. According to an encyclopaedia entry summarising Lawrences own freeing from constraints, Snake belongs to his postWWI taking on board of Walt Whitman and other American poets as well as the Imagists The range of Lawrences poetry is also considerable, from satirical squibs and polemical pieces to his best work which displays a mastery of tone, freeverse rhythm, and an underappreciated complexity of emotion and argument. Like many of his generation, Lawrence was influenced by the American poet Walt Whitman whose rangy, personal verse liberated Lawrence from the conventional poetic structures with which he began. These freer forms suited his insouciant outlook and modes of composition. Often, in his best poems about the natural world, Lawrence combines an observational detail with the ability to develop associations of meaning which give a mythological grandeur and depth to the exploration of often startlingly mundane experiences. As with many of the leading modernist writers of his generation, the reworking of classical and Christian myths to speak to contemporary concerns was a matter of major interest. Some of his finest poetry is to be found in the volume of wartime verse, Look! We Have Come Through! (1917), and in New Poems (1920), Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), and Pansies (1929), while the substantial Complete Poems were published in 1964.http//www.jrank.org/literature/pages/4730/DHLawrence(DavidHerbertRichardsLawrence).htmlixzz0XmIeVuTLAs Lawrence is most associated with Nottingham, Ill locate it there, though the inspiration was Taormina in Sicily.

Traffic Wardens

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:23:58 GMT

Graffiti found in Manchesters Northern Quarter

Melancholia for Dummies

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:36:57 GMT

This is a genuinely global poem in that it is to be found on the Net and was sent to me by an expat Brit friend who now lives in the USA. She is called Vivienne and is originally from Lancashire. So I have located it in that county.

The Ringer From Casino

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:27:39 GMT

A poem I wrote that that became a song

On Cobblestones East London

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:23:36 GMT

Love throught seasons of life

Stone dead Forever

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:49:11 GMT

Poetry stones written on Southsea Beach. Started in summer 2008 and continuing to date. So far about 200 poems, statements and other scribblings.

Stone Dead Forever

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:40:29 GMT

Writing and scribbling on stones on Southsea Beach. Started in summer 2008 and continuing. To date 200 or so stones.

18

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:51:17 GMT

Chalk graffiti outside garage entrance on Curtain Road. YOUR FAVOURITE WORD AND YOUR FAVOURITE THIS IS LOVE LOVE SO SHARE IT AND WE CAN ALL ENJOY IT YEHAW. PLEASE

Fresh Face

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:50:40 GMT

How different is our relationship with our Sovereign and her children when not only does a citizen seem as indefatigable as the Royals in terms of longevity, but the tradition of the Monarch writing to centenarians as they reach yet another milestone cannot simply be a routine matter given how long HM the Queen has reigned, Im sure she will have had a hand personally in despatching our future king to see Ms. Masters in May, and ensuring that Ms. Masters received a fresh face and outfit to say Happy Birthday. We are a querulous lot, thank Heavens!

I want your life

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:24:48 GMT

I loose my breath when I read this.Photo credit to http//foundmagazine.com/find/6805

Cargoes by John Masefield

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:57:08 GMT

My boyhood and early teens were spent by the sea in Blackpool which is pincered between the (in those days thriving) ports of Fleetwood and Preston. Fleetwood meant Icelandic fishing ended by the socalled Cod Wars, while Preston Docks reeked of coasters and continental cargoes. We were drilled in singing Cargoes by our secondary music teacher, the late Bunny Rawes, and I remember being in the choir at speech days at Blackpool Opera House in 1958 59, and gentling the first two stanzas until we could belt out the third. It sticks.

Old Street Tube Station Poetry Welcome to the land of the fat and lazy...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:37:08 GMT

Sometimes you find poetry and honesty in the oddest places. Somebody wrote this on the steps of the Old Street Tube Station in London. A particularly grubby tube station resplendent with the smell of, what is it, hmmm... urine

Eest naar links

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:23:27 GMT

Poetry in the pavementat the corner of Lange Poten and Spui first to the leftthen to the rightto the left againwatch out!behind you! Adriaan BontebalOctober 2006(Translated from Dutch by MB)

Secret Ship

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:48:05 GMT

On Saturday I was part of a huge queue outside the Royal College of Art, for their Secret Art Sale. Every year, they commission over 2000 artists to create a piece of art the size of a postcard, and sell them off to raise money for the college. The hook is that the name of the artist is kept secret (on the back of the postcard) and you dont find out who the artist is until youve bought it. This year there was work by Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Nick Park, among others..and people queued with staggering dedication, some even in tents for days before. I got there at 6am with my sister, and after 5 hours of queuing, found that all our chosen postcards had been sold already so we each picked one at random. Strange that I chanced on one with words, one that I feel has something poetic about it. Its by Tamara Dubnyckyj.

From Miss charity Umar

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:11:44 GMT

This appeared in my inbox. Somehow it got past the spam filter, and maybe for a reason. I had just been to a reading by the poet Peter Finch, in which he asked the question what is poetry. This looks like a poem, although it isnt particularly evocative. It was just pertinent to the subject I was thinking about at that exact minute.

Haiku at the Quad arts centre, Derby

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:56:27 GMT

Adlestrop by Edward Thomas

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:55:17 GMT

I found this in about 1959 in an classroom at Baines Grammar School, PoultonleFylde, during one of Whizzer Thompsons always interesting English lessons, and it has stayed with me as a perfect exemplar of rural England ever since.

GRAFFITI . art and poetry pendants

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:55:54 GMT

Vancouver artist Tanis Alexis Laird and Qubec jewelers Guylaine Isabelle Martineau have collaborated to create this limited edition signature series.the poetry http//jesuistropcreppy.wordpress.comthe art http//tanisalexis.com

Creation of place

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:07:53 GMT

A poem about where we live.

Slower Than This

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:32:21 GMT

This atmospheric list poem forms part of an exhibition called Love etc by Jim Hodges, currently on show at the Pompidou, Paris. I often use visual art as a stimulus for writing poetry its great to see an artist using language so eloquently in their art.

Poem on the Paris Metro

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:28:51 GMT

This was one of several poems I saw on the Paris Metro, somewhere between Abbesses and Chteau de Vincennes. Trying to make sense of the poems made the journey go very quickly, and they were a very welcome diversion from all the H M Jimmy Choo adverts. Its a long time since I scraped a pass in OLevel French, so youll have to forgive my very rough translation of this extract of Pierre Tilmans Jai dit parfoisI said sometimesI said yesI said noI said sometimesI said yesI said yesI said perhapsI said neverI said I love you

Beware of Words

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:25:42 GMT

On a recent trip to Paris, we went on a fabulous Street Art Tour around Belleville (downloaded from www.invisibleparis.net). One of my favourite pieces was this installation by Ben of two workmen putting a sign up on a high wall. The sign reads Il faut se mfier des mots which can be translated as beware of words. Good advice! Appropriately, the bar beneath the sign, Culture Rapide, runs regular slam poetry nights.

I Lend Confusion

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:21:50 GMT

I snapped one of MissTics distinctive female stencils featuring her customary clever wordplay (roughly translated as I give profusion, I lend confusion) in a small gallery on Maistre Rue de Abbesses, Montmartre. It seemed like a good motto for poets

poetry for the passerby

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:39:18 GMT

Sunshine Boy by A.R. I believe, found in a bookshop window in Bristol

Mutanabbi Street Broadside Project

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:35:36 GMT

Broadside written and produced for the Mutanabbi Street Coalition, a project to condemn and commemorate the bombing of Mutanabbi Street, the historical central book market in Baghdad on March 5th 2007. Named for the 10th century Arab poet alMutanabi, the street was also the meeting place for many of Baghdads literary and intellectual community.I wanted to do something that relates to the history of the street and the surrounding area, but also to the ability for people in oppressed communities to publish materials with the most basic of resources, hence the stencil and John Bull typeface. I also wanted to write something that would be read in the spirit of hope and healing.The red and black are symbolic of a previous attack on the bookmarkets, when the water of the Tigris was said to have first run red with the blood of the slaughtered, and then black with the ink of the books that were thrown into the river.Further information and images available ata hrefURLwww.library.fau.edu./depts/spc/jaffe.htm/a

Stone Dead Forever

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:22:11 GMT

Writing and scribbling on stones on Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continuing to this day. Over 200 so far.

Stone Dead Forever

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:18:53 GMT

Writing and scribbling on stones on Southsea beach. Started in summer 2008 and continuing to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

Stone Dead Forever

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:54:55 GMT

Writings and scribblings on the stones of Southsea beach. Started in the summer of 2008 and continued to this day. Over 200 stones to date.

Street poetry

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:36:35 GMT

Short poem found stencilled on a pavement in Kilburn

ATTENTION

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:07:40 GMT

I found ATTENTION in the gents of the East Oxford Community Centre. It made me laugh when I first saw it and it still makes me laugh. I love the fact that some blueinked wit can give a hand towel dispenser a shires accent. A stroke of genius!

Bangers and Mash Bash

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:31:50 GMT

A thank you note for a good plate of sausages left in the menu display outside a restaurant.

stag and the aviators get stage fright

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:00:11 GMT

Huck and the Handsome Fee play a song called Stagorlee, about a killer, who answered to that name and others similar. Simon Armitage reads a poem called Aviators about George and Rainbow Airways. Borderville finish the video with a song called stage fright. In defense of including music as poetry I offer no defense, but instead ask the assailant where they would draw the line.http//www.myspace.com/huckmusichttp//www.simonarmitage.comhttp//borderville.com/

scorn and the human voice

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:42:32 GMT

This video is made up of 2 poems/songs. The first is written by Huck of Huck and the Handsome Fee. Its called Scorned Blues and is about a woman who put a curse on her exlover. Simon Armitages poem The Shout is about measuring the size of the human voice and a few other things. Recorded at an Oxford University Poetry Society event, 2009.http//www.myspace.com/huckmusichttp//www.simonarmitage.com

an ex lover and a sperm whale

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:23:29 GMT

Simon Armitage headlines a night packed music. In this video there are two poems. The one by Tamara ParsonsBaker is called Lover. Simon Armitages poem is called Christening and is written from the point of view of a sperm whale. It begins with an introduction from the president of OUPS, Caroline Bird.http//www.myspace.com/tamaraparsonshttp//www.simonarmitage.com/

No Exits

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:05:26 GMT

THIS IS NOT AN EXITChalked onto the wall of the Kingsway Tram Tunnel, Central London

Wharram Percy

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:40:15 GMT

Wharram Percy is one of the best known archaeological sites in the country. it has been the subject of a fortyyearlong study by Maurice Beresford and John Hunt.Although there is evidence for Roman and AngloSaxon dwellings n the area, Mediaeval WharramIt probably began as a planned village shortly before the Conquest. It was in decline by the late Middle Ages, possibly due to the combined effect of argicultural decline and the Black Death, and was finally abandoned in the sixteenth century, when the land was turned over to sheepwalks.

A Very Private Conversation

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:15:33 GMT

The lush green valleys

Nightfall over London

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:08:42 GMT

passing by foreigner feels London falling into the night.

Im not worthless

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:37:54 GMT

This one made me smile, wryly.

Writers Inscription

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:03:30 GMT

List of writers who have visited Rathlin Island.

Seamus Heaney poem

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:36:20 GMT

Beautiful sense of natural awareness.

Seamus Heaney poem

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:29:59 GMT

Beautiful sense of natural awareness.

Not waving but drowning

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:49:14 GMT

Catherine DobbieFeeling of having a breakthrough even though its a dark poem!(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

A wee bit raggit laudie

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:47:54 GMT

Lynn KiddThe language ties the poem to Glasgow. I like the image of the wee boy with his cap pulled down over his ears. My grandmother used to tell me it when I visited her. I would be about 7 years old. It makes me smile to remember her expression when she said it.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

THE LISTENERS BY WALTER DE LA MARE

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:46:34 GMT

ANNE LITTLESON The ruins, the woods, the silence Favourite part see above School Age 10 Feelings of solitude, curiosity what happened to the people who lived there(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

The Woods Are Lovely Dark and Deep

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:42:12 GMT

Lesley RoualdI first read this as a teenager and its always stirred my imagination I want to know what promises does the poet have to keep and why such a long journey it makes me think of the film Dr Zhivago and the snow, empty landscape and deep, dark woods.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

Had I the Heavens embroidered cloths

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:40:51 GMT

Viv DudleyIreland because Yeats was Irish poet. I loved lots of his poetry (although I didnt like his politics!) Encountered poem at school about 17/19. Thought it was a lovely love poem beautiful images.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

Tam OShanter

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:39:45 GMT

Maureen TaylorLocation is real and can be visualised. Part where Tam is chased by witches. Encountered it in school. Teenager.Remember how it was taught brought it to life.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

Daffodils

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:37:21 GMT

Anne Marie ElliottDaffodils growing in the garden.Fav part Waving their heads in sprightly dance.Learned poem in Primary 7 class. Feelings of peace evoked.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

If Rudyard Kipling

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:35:47 GMT

Lorna MacAlisterPoem in sideboard drawer favourite poem of grandfather, kept by mother enjoyed by family.Memories of deceased family.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

Tarrentella (Belloc)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:32:46 GMT

Cathy McKirdyIt was when I was a teenager and I wanted to travel and see the worldAge 17 when I first heard the poemThe poem is about forgotten love, memories, something that had been and gone...(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

Dulce et Decorum Est (W Owen)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:24:45 GMT

DON MCALLISTERStrong memories of the effect of war 14 when learnt evoked an antiwar feeling(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute.)

Love Wall

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:58:57 GMT

This was not a planned love wall, it was gradual love graffiti which grew to become a love wall. And what is that guy doing with the coat hanger

I assure you, we are open

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:48:56 GMT

While looking for a shop at Manor House, I rushed past a set of closed doors but with a sign which personally assured me they are open.

string poetry

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:45:08 GMT

Bought some string secondhand, wound around a piece of card. When I unraveled the last bit of string (which was red), inside the card I discovered this Can you sew my Pant (red)I like red wire (green)

Feast

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:16:32 GMT

The second of the poems, black marker pen, partition, bank....

FortuneTeller

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:10:36 GMT

One of two texts written in black marker pen on either side of a temporary partition outside a bank. This is the first of the two that I encountered.

Sure Tis A Rare Sight

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:38:30 GMT

Short spoken poem on romance with a picture poem in background

Its A Beautiful World

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:26:54 GMT

Poetry Slide Show with images , sound and words .

A DUG

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:26:58 GMT

MYRA McARTHURIt is so real. You can see the situation unfolding the way a child wears you down!It makes me think of my younger cousins my brothers children how children can manipulate adults in an entertaining way.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

title unknown

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:25:40 GMT

HILARY BOMBARTSadness, stirs emotionShort but all very significant brilliantly displays experience fully emotion of poet Fun classOwnership our own translation(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

KING BILLY BY EDWIN MORGAN

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:23:10 GMT

W. CROSSAN THE RELIGIOUS DIVIDE A PARTICULAR FEATURE OF CERTAIN AREAS OF GLASGOW PARTICULARLY STRUCK BY CLOSING LINES CONDEMN WHAT IS TO BE CONDEMNEDBUT FIRST FIND OUT THE RESTie DONT RUSH TO JUDGEMENT(EDWIN MORGANS POEMS ARE OFTEN CLOSELY TIED TO GLASGOW LOCATIONS AND BRING DEEPER SIGNIFICANCE OUT OF EVERYDAY VIGNETTES).(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

Spike Milligan

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:21:11 GMT

Elspeth DavisDadyoung 8/9really really happy. Good childhood memories. Quality times with Dad, a man who inspired my love of literature(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

Robert Frost

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:09:12 GMT

Learning for higher englishAge 16(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

Little White Rose of Scotland

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:07:15 GMT

C Teacher SituationP7 Class1995(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

A Humpit Backit Heron

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:05:41 GMT

Frances BretmanPrimary School age. Didnt even know what a heron looked like. Remember reciting it on stage.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

From A Railway Carriage

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:04:16 GMT

Ann ChalmersPrimary school (9). Liked the rhythm. Excitement of going on a journey(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

Mickey Newburry How Many Times Must The Piper be Paid for his Song

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:02:45 GMT

Pam AtackAge 20/21. Evokes Comfortable Student days. Freedom of being a student, away from home, time to think and ponder.(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

Dulce et Decorum Est

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:59:03 GMT

Liz OHarerelating it to your peers at the time. People who had died in war were close in age at time of study(This poem was remembered at the imagine, invent, create conference for headteachers from Argyll and Bute)

November Thomas Hood

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:54:28 GMT

Heres a poem to welcome one of the most inspirational months of the calender. I found this written on a thoughtoftheday chalk board, in a bricabrac shop in Bethal Green..

Mirage

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:07:05 GMT

This is about being physically trapped in the system forced upon us by politics but freeing myself mentally.

Squab By Malcolm Dewhirst

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:14:46 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail.This poem reflects to view of a Dove in the Dove Cote in the 17th Century watching the tithes roll into the tithe barn and then observing the Michaelmas hiring fair comparing the plight of the dove with that of the labourers seeking a new position with the landowners.

Life In The Spring

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:17:07 GMT

The Colours Of Spring are a beautiful thing , sunshine in a dull world and life renewed again .

The Season Of Love

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:19:12 GMT

There is seasons in life and love , it withers and dies and returns to fill us with wonder and beauty .

Life On The Planet

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:49:48 GMT

A look at the places and life we sahre through the medium of poetry

Power by Janine Warre

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:42:03 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail.This poem considers the different types of Power that have impacted Polesworth over the centuries.

Memories of Pooley Mine by Raymond Hendy

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:58:01 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail.This poem written by an exminer remembers the closing of Pooley Coal Mine and the removal of the head gear, that still lives with him.

Famous Men by Helen Yendall.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:25:39 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail.This poem remembers the poets who were meeting in Polesworth in the late 16th/early 17th Centuries. Poets such as Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, John Donne and some say the young William Shakespeare

Song 13 (Drayton Dub) by Jonathan Morley

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:01:37 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail.Taking its inspiration from Michael Draytons PolyOlbion Thirteenth Song, the poem considers Polesworth in its wider landscape of the Forest of Arden.The Argument from PolyOlbions Thirteenth Song appears along side it.

I belive in angels

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:51:34 GMT

My poem is about angels. I love angels so much and belive that there my guardian angels.

Happy Days

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:50:35 GMT

Chloe brought this poem in to school. I like it because it was cheerful.

Im Thinking Of You

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:47:07 GMT

I found this poem on a card. Its the sort of wee card that you find in a card shop my mammy uses it as a bookmark. I dont know who gave it to her but it must be special to her because she uses it all the time.

Having A Sister..

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:45:16 GMT

The is a good poem if you like your sister and its a true one even if you hate your sister because your sister will always be there for you no matter what so she is like your best friend anyways.

I Cant Text You Roses

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:43:06 GMT

Its a poem about texting or faxing roses and hearts..!My sister gave me a book full of poems and I picked this one out because I liked it best!

Parents

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:43:03 GMT

I chose this poem because its very touching and my parents loved it when I bought it to them. It shows us how we should respect our parents because they love us very much.

Keep on smiling

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:41:26 GMT

This poem is on a magnet on my fridge I like this poem because its very emotional and relaxing. Its has a strong rhyme so its easy to read and you know whats coming next.

Best Friends

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:39:08 GMT

I found this poem in my sisters note book. She brought a book to school and all her friends signed it with all nice comments and poems. Shes had it since 5th year and the poem is called Best Friends.By Melissa Doherty

Smile

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:38:18 GMT

i found this on the internet and it meant so much to me so i thought all of you would like it

I Love You

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:28:54 GMT

I found this poem on the internet and I like it because it is so true.

To Our Grandson

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:25:22 GMT

The words i read out here is a poem on my brothers friends memorial card.

kiss now painted over

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:07 GMT

Inspired by Salt Publishings campaign to reinstate Sue Hubbards poem (it has now been painted over I post a word of it here.http//blog.saltpublishing.com/2009/11/04/campaigntoputthepoembackinwaterloounderpass/commentpage1/comment621my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

tattoo art

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:49:59 GMT

While I was away in Turkey I saw a tattoo artists advertising board at our hotel with pictures of his recent works. I saw one which looked like this and I had never seen one like it before and managed to find a similar one on the internet.

Did I Fall in Love by Orhan Veli Kanik

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:08:57 GMT

To Camille, Love Aydan

We are trying to live in peace

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:21:59 GMT

This lovely image of a harangued family driven mad by their neighbours pig and brightly coloured birds arrived in my spam box this morning. The link goes to a website call The Canadian Online Pharmacy, so have located the poem accordingly.

Love falls

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:41:03 GMT

Love frees all

Recurring Dream (Baba)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:54:13 GMT

A recurring dream of my father. Baba Shona for Father

To Seek, To Find

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:16:37 GMT

From the tip of Antarcticas Ross Island rises Observation Hill a dead cinder cone that testifies to the fiery history of the frozen island. Climbing the steep landmark, one is rewarded with amazing views of the Ross Sea, the distant Royal Society mountains, and nearby Mt. Erebus, a stillactive volcano. At the top of Observation Hill is a wooden cross, into which is carved a famous quote from Lord Alfred Tennysons poem, Ulysses To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. The Ob Hill cross commemorates Antarctic explorer R. F. Scott and his men, who died on their return from the South Pole almost a century ago. One equal temper of heroic heartsMade weak by time and fate, but strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Poetry at McMurdo

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:51:27 GMT

This message greeted us as the line snaked into the galley, at McMurdo Station, Ross Island, AntarcticaHe who clings to a joy,Does the winged life destroy,He who kisses it as it flys,Lives in eternities sunrise.Here is the actual verse from William BlakeHe who binds to himself a joyDoes the winged life destroyBut he who kisses the joy as it fliesLives in eternitys sunrise.

Major Stewarts Honourable Intention

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:10:47 GMT

Burnby Hall Gardens in Pocklington hosts the National Collection of Waterlilies. The ponds were created by Major Stewart in the 19th Century. There is a small museum there dedicated to his memory and the information for the poem was contained in fragments from his diaries.

Kangaroo

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:54:50 GMT

It made it so tempting, and the rhythm got me repeating it to myself for the rest of the day, as if it was something I must remember not to do.

Your Tshirt

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:00:21 GMT

I found this in the Wagamama restaurant below GPS HQ at Southbank Centre. It would seem that Wagamama is getting in on the poetry act. But I wonder if Wagamama knows this is in fact poetry And I wonder where Wagamama got the idea And why it thought it was a good idea to use as place settings And what its going to do with the idea. Because, you see, its mightily similar to project from last years London Word Festival by fabulous poet Karen McCarthy. Go here to see Karens online installation http//www.londonwordfestival.com/cat6

Black Sam, The Innkeeper

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:28:56 GMT

In desperate need to pour myself into a cold, stiff drink after being spat out from a protracted journey on the subway following a delayed flight from London on 11 September 2008, I found this. At first it seemed to be an English pub and the only place to get a drink in the environs of Wall Street. It turned out to be more than just a pub and something of a kind of museum dedicated to George Washington. I also found the skeleton of a poem there. I am intrigued by Samuel Fraunces. There is a question mark over his racial identity. He is recorded variously as black, mulatto and white. Yes, a poem from the point of view of a fly on the wall at a secret meeting of the Sons of Liberty would be the thing. This is what Wikipedia has to say about him http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SamuelFrauncesThe ducks are Oscar and Lucinda, named after the Peter Carey book. They are extremely well traveled rubber ducks.

Keats on the Underground

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:40:28 GMT

Makes you wonder what Keats would have made of the fact that his famous line is so selffulfilling. Shine on, you thing of beauty!

poetry party

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:56:58 GMT

POETRY LIVE The Long Night of Young Romanian PoetryVenue Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, Knaackstr. 97, 10435 BerlinEntry free (expected to last until 3 am)Featuring Constantin Acosmei (Romania), Svetlana Carstean (Romania), Rita Chirian (Romania), Gabi Eftimie (Romania), Sorin Ghergu (Romania), Vasile Leac (Romania), Stefan Manasia (Romania), Vlad Moldovan (Romania), Ioana Nicolae (Romania), Olga Stefan (Romania)Moderated by Rzvan upaThe young poets scene in Romania is bubbling over with boiling creativity and love of experimentation. Dissatisfied with conventional ways of doing things, it rampages uninhibitedly into other artforms and is totally unafraid of unusual ways of presenting work. It is just as much at home on reading stages as in clubs. In the series Young Blood from Romania, ten young poets who have been showered with awards for their debuts will be showing what poetry from Romania is all about.Short videopoems by various Romanian artists will accompany this long night of poetry. The right mood will be created by the sampling artist Silent Strike. The poets will be doing Poetry On Request in the Kulturbrauerei on the evening before this, when visitors can request a poem.An event sponsored by the Titu Maiorescu Romanian Cultural Institute in Berlin in partnership with the Romanian literary journal Noua Literatura

RhymeSayer

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:29:17 GMT

Found on the back of the young poet and photographer Raymond Antrobus. Just what is Rhymesayers The ole interweb says Rhymesayers Entertainment is an independent hip hop record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded in 1995.

Loves Philosophy

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:01:45 GMT

Audrey remebered how this Shelley poem she learned at her school made all the girls giggle and recalled how they all thought it was so naughty. Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival.

The Elephant is an elegant bird

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:40:46 GMT

Judith describes how poetry got her into trouble at primary school.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival.

Ground Zero, Lower Manhattan, New York

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:28:42 GMT

I arrived in New York on 11 September 2008 for a two week holiday. I was staying with a friend whose 33rd floor apartment window provided a birds eye view directly down, into the heart of Ground Zero. Day and night, the diggers never stopped for the duration of my holiday. I would fall asleep to the woodpecker rhythms of their friction motors and wake to the same just before the noise of dollar stalking on Wall Street subsumed their sound once again. Needless to say, the poet in me was immediately stirred. But the emotions and questions raised by looking at this 7 year building site wouldnt rub together enough to torch the spark, to coalesce into a poem about what I saw. So much has been written about the incident it is difficult to write about it without sounding trite or bathetic or rehashing ground that has already been covered more adroitly. The thing to do would be to find the human stories in amongst the rubble. But that is fraught with its own difficulties. Still the image pulls me back again and again so maybe one day, a poem will bubble to the surface. Its a curious thing to feel that youve found a poem but not be able to access it from the part of your brain that keeps things shrouded. Like hiding something away so well that you cant remember where you hid it. Or maybe its simply a poem that just doesnt want to be found. Im sure its no coincidence that the Tribute World Trade Center, opened in 2006, is on Liberty Street.

The council gets overly creative

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:53:38 GMT

What drove the council to get so visually creative when signposting this public ashtray Am I the only one who thinks that the words have been lent abstract meaning

Paradise Lost in EC2

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:31:11 GMT

In the 19th Century, this used to be called Grub Street, which was famous for its concentration of impoverished writers, poets, and lowend publishers and booksellers. Bohemian society was set alongside lowrent flophouses, brothels, and coffeehouses. But for its poetic name, the street as it exists now is totally unremarkable...

Golden Wine

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:58:12 GMT

The Moors settled in Jerez, Spain, during the 900AD. Despite being religious people and therefore teetotal, here are some lines penned by the last Moorish king of Seville. He describes his experience with the wines of Jerez, wines which are commonly known as sherry, probably one of the most misunderstood drinks on the plannet...

Once Steeple Bumpstead Had a Steeple

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:38:02 GMT

Here at the Poetry Library, we are often asked about poems by people trying to remember where they heard a certain line, or who wrote a poem their granny taught them, or the end of a poem they read at school. When we just cant find it ourselves, we put it on our Lost Quotations webpage at www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/queries/lostquotes, and sometimes members of the public can help out. We got a great response for this one, which you can read by visiting the site here http//www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/queries/lostquotes/id15comments

Pavement poetry, Manchester

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:06:03 GMT

A series of tiled inserts in the pavement of the Northern Quarter near Afflecks Palace, an emporium of second hand and retro wonders.

Lost Voice

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:49:40 GMT

In a small alley behind Shakespeares Globe is this.

The Garden of Love

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:24:48 GMT

This is one of my favourite poems by William Blake who lived here in Lambeth.

Gossip

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:56:01 GMT

A simple and touching poet by the wonderful poet Orhan Veli, I wonder how this is different in Turkish

Loveliest of trees by A.E. Houseman

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:28:55 GMT

Loveliest of trees, the cherry nowIs hung with bloom along the bough,And stands about the woodland rideWearing white for Eastertide.. . .The poem sits up against the wall of the Hyatt Regency in the Incheon airport area.A less aesthetic view the poem commands is hard to imagine. A row of oaks has been planted in front of the road facing the vast waste of the airfields perimeter. Can a poem overcome its setting and take us into the woodland ride

Fight for your right to be arty, detail

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:59:40 GMT

Id never been to Chiswick before but suffice it to say, most houses in Chiswick dont look like this. A permanent free zone in the middle of a residential street. If youre in South West London, I urge you to go visit.

Fight for your right to be arty

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:54:08 GMT

Id never been to Chiswick before and suffice it to say, most houses in Chiswick dont look like this one a permanent freezone, covered in mosaics and...poetry! I urge you to visit Chiswick, if only for this.

Climbing Suilven

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:33:57 GMT

A poem that can take me from in front of my computer to an invigorating climb of one of my favourite mountains. I love the way the the poem turns the process of climbing upwards into pushing downwards. Its very empowering. You can read the full poem in The Poems of Norman MacCaig, which is published by Polygon.

Wall/Flower

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:41:31 GMT

I thought it would be a great idea if we could celebrate UKs National Poetry Day together so emailed some of my favourite poets and asked them if they would like to take part in a group poem.We emailed back and forth throughout the day coming up with the lovely poem Wall/Flower.The poets who took part were Katrina Naomi, Heather Taylor, Nevl Lewis, Paul Ross, Miriam Nash, Kamaria Muntu, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Jacqueline Saphra, Mahogany L. Browne, Nena Black, Sabrina Mahfouz, Warsan Shire, Den Rele and Naomi Woddis

Remember the cool sacred perfume of morning

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:19:55 GMT

Poems created by Audrey and Jean at Litfest in Lancaster.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival

Life is like a colour

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:14:11 GMT

A poem created by Judith at Litfest in Lancaster.Life is like a colouras translucent as ghostly porcelainit will soon be over like a kiss on a warm breezeUploaded by Marie Clare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Prisoner of secrets

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:40:25 GMT

Prisoner of secretshaunted by the poison of deceit.A poem created by Polly as part of Litfest 2009.Uploaded by Marie Clare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival.

In memory of Tom Pratt

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:20:32 GMT

Black Roses and Hail Marys cant bring back whats been taken from me. Offspring Gone AwayLiams tattoo is in memory of Tom Pratt. Uploaded by Marie Clare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival.

POST CODE BOUNDARIES Part TWO

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:21:24 GMT

Concluding part of discussion with Rukus and young people.

POST CODE BOUNDARIES Part ONE

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:15:02 GMT

Discussion with Rukus and young people about Identity and Place.

Streams Flow

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:53:10 GMT

I spotted the reminder Streams Flow etched into a great slab of stone in a riverside park, in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, near the new Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway Visitor Center.

Book of Common Song

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:23:18 GMT

This image is a poem without words.Who knows what words they are singingAnd yet we sing along!See also How to Singhttp//www.gutenberg.org/files/19116/19116h/19116h.htm

Survival Cache

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:49:21 GMT

I found these words stenciled on the side of a blazeorange crate, in the remote frozen desert environment of Antarcticas Dry ValleysSURVIVALCACHEPerhaps these words imprinted themselves upon my psyche because there were so few other signs of human presence Nearby are marks for landing a helicopter on the loose glacial til. Nearby is ancient, frozen Lake Bonney. Nearby is a tiny scientific field camp on the shore, a Jamesway hut looking vulnerable and small. Nearby are glaciers, suspended like water droplets along the mountain ridge. We must trust, without opening to verify, that the crate contains what it promises survival cache. Serious words. If a helicopter crashed here, survivors would open the crate to find an emergency tent, stove, sleeping bags, radio equipment, and a food cache. The strategic positioning of survival caches dates back to the first days of Antarctic exploration. It is impossible for me not to remember that Scotts expedition to reach the South Pole ended with the explorer and his companions freezing to death, 11 miles from reaching their own survival cache.

The Owl and the Pussycat

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:25:20 GMT

Terry Cottington remembers and performs an extract from The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear.

Horatio Holding The Bridge

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:59:48 GMT

Allan Finney remembers Horatio holding the bridge and other poems spouted by my father in a drunken stupor

A Departure

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:19:14 GMT

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire MichiganOctober 15th, 2008I find this note, written in pencil, quite small, below an old windowsill in the sunny breakfast nook of the old farmhouse kitchen at Tweedle Farm (Artist Residency housing) A DEPARTURE (Basho)Summer is over andwe part, like eyelids,like clams opening.Norconk Road is hidden by vivid puddles of fallen leaves. Who left this note for me I read and reread my secret message, remembering the fall I was a sophomore at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design... acorns crushed to coarse flour on the sidewalk where I walked to evening class... a writing workshop with the poet Jim Moore, who introduced me to the poems of both Basho and Hass. Summer is over, indeed! O Basho, the clam is always opening, always closing, always opening again!

The Tyger William Blake

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:28:21 GMT

The Tiger by William Blake found in an office at the University of Cumbria, Lancaster Campus. Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival.

Human Affection

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:02:51 GMT

Given to a mother by her daughter I have kept it safe and treasure it. Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival.

Hey diddle diddle

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:21:23 GMT

LolaRoses favourite poem which she learned at her school, St Bernadettes Primary School, Lancaster.

Billeting Officer, Blackpool 1943

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:46:33 GMT

Poem from BBC archive papers associated with Mrs M Rimmer Blackpools Billeting Officer, In the year of 1940They said the children must be savdWe must find an air raid shelter,Where the bombs theyll boldly brave.So they searched all over Blackpool,But no shelter could be seen,Cept a cellar in a basement,In a street named for a Queen.Each day the children practised,In a line thye bravely fledThough theyd really have been saferIf theyd stood beneath the shed.For with knees and elbows bleeding,They were jammed up to the wall,Every time the siren summoned,They went to this noble hall.Evacuees in BlackpoolWere put upon the Roll,And every wartime teacher,Was driven up the wall.For theyd books and pens and pencils,Yes, they had the children tooBut they had no rooms to put them in,Whatever could they doThen a brighteyed BeautocratWas filled with thought supreme.Why dont they use that buildingIn the street named for a QueenThey have put the children in thereEvery time the sirens wailWhy not use the place for classroomsThis idea cannot fail!Authority was delightedBy Jove my lad, they said,For this you will be knighted,A crown will reach your head.Get those children in there quickly,Put the teachers in there too,Theyll be handy for the shelter,And theyll have a good sea view.And so officially came to passWithout high word or deed,The opening up of Queen Street,As a school because of need.The teachers got their postings,And quickly packed their traps.Tis just a temporary measure,Well be back next year perhaps,But when officials saw it,And the ease with which ir ran,They soon went to the OfficeAnd drew up another plan.These teachers get it easy,Said they unto each other.Write a letter, said their leader,And send it off to MotherTell her that from this morning,Another scheme were signing.The children wont go home no more,At school, theyll do their dining.Well give you cup and saucer,And knife and fork and spoon,Well even send a womanWholl keep the place in tuneHer name is Miss CollettaShell arm herself with ladleAnd if you talk instead of eat,Shell crash i on the table.And so the house in Queen St.,Developed through the warAnd every year the classesGrew more and more and more.And mother told the Office,Managers, Ministry too,I feel like the famous mother Who lived within a shoe.The numbers are increasingFrom what thye were at first.If you dont get us out right quickThe walls will surely burst. Now after long discussionA plan they have brought forthWell build a new school for youin the regions of the north.And everyone is happyThat no more theyll need to trailDown the yard and through the alleyina howling bitter gale.Lift no more their weary footstepsAs they trudge up every stairTo a tiny room in Queen StreetLIke a lion to his lair.Bit in spite of all this gladnessTheres a feeling of despairAnd its with a little sadnessThat we all are leaving there.For its been a trusted servantThat has served us from the startWe are leaving all the old tiesWere leaving Sacred Heart.And when we have departedFrom this life here belowDont worry for the futureIll tell you where youll goThe Lord will see you comingAnd hell say to good St PeteOpen wide the gate for this oneShe has come from down Queen Street.Let her sit in peace in HeavenShe has suffered down belowShe has travelled to the AnnexeThrough rain and hail and snow. WW2 Peoples War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at http//bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest part of Lancasters literature festival.

Remember the dead, fight for the living

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:25:54 GMT

Part of the inscription on the Preston and District Workerss Day Memorial Committee plaque on the memorial to those killed in the Plug riots in 1842.The full text reads This plaque is dedicated by the trade unions of Preston to the memory of all workers worldwide who are killed, injured, suffer ill health or detriment as a consequence of work.Remember the dead, fight for the living.

Nicoles foot A poem written on the body.

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:18:57 GMT

The lyric reads Ive sworn it a million times never to be left again with this feeling.from Nervous in the Alley by Less than Jake.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Seashore shallows searching shelduck

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:55:23 GMT

One of the tongue twisters on the Stone Jetty on Morecambe seafront part of the larger Tern Project.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

If the sky falls we shall catch Larks

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:25:07 GMT

An inscription by artist Pip Hall on slate, seen in Witherslack, Cumbria by Liz.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Living in Hackney

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:37:04 GMT

An ode to my adopted hometown, drawing on its similarities with and differences from ancient Rome forming part of a song of the same title by Benin City, the spokenword band of which I am a proud member.

Summer swallows skimming over sunbeams and shadows

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:18:31 GMT

This is one of a number of poems on the Stone Jetty at Morecambe. It is part of the larger Tern Project that developed a range of public art pieces along the Morecambe sea front. Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Samboos Grave Elegy

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:47:58 GMT

An extract from a poem written by a local school teacher Rev. James Watson as a memorial to a young African man who had been buried in an unmarked grave on unconsecrated ground near the village of Sunderland Point. A reminder of the maritime past of the area and its links to the Transatlantic slave trade.The text readsFull sixty years the angry winters waveHas thundering dashed this bleak and barren shoreSince Sambos head laid in this lonely graveLies still and neer will hear their turmoill more.Full many a sandbird chirps upon the sod,And many a moonlight elfin round him tripsFull many a summers sunbeam warms the clodAnd many a teeming cloud upon him drips.But still he sleeps till the awakening sounds,Of the Archangels trump new life impart,Then the great judge his approbation founds,Not on mans colour but on his worth of heart.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Flock of Words

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:19:37 GMT

The Flock of Words is a path of bird poems, jokes, song lyrics, traditional sayings and poems. These have been taken from the bible, from the works of Shakespeare, Spike Milligan as well as local people and form part of the larger Tern Project.

How blue How sad How small How white How far

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:26:43 GMT

Ian Finlay Harrisons poem in the vestibule of the Harris Gallery, Preston 1989Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Poem Path

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:59:24 GMT

In 2003 Litfest worked with Sandylands and Skerton Community Primary Schools in Morecambe to create two sixmetre poem paths to celebrate the Flock of Words threehundred metre path in Morecambe. Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

For the Fallen

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:43:57 GMT

The poet Robert Laurence Binyon was born in Lancaster on 10 August 1869. He is best known for his 1914 poem For the Fallen which is commonly used in Remembrance Sunday services and on memorials to the First World War.

Meditations Marcus Aurelius

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:28:29 GMT

Selections from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius are carved round the top of the Harris Gallery in Preston. They read On earth there is nothing great but man in man there is nothing great but mind and The mental riches you may here acquire abide with you always.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters Literature festival.

Sing Softly, Be Still, Cease

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:23:00 GMT

A poem by Ruth Barker at the Cenotaph in Blackpool. The associated text reads.. This memorial is dedicated to those who struggled for freedom in all conflicts and those who remember them. It is sacred to all combatants who lay down their lives. Those who are forever still, we remember you. Violence is not the only strength

DDay Dodgers

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:05:28 GMT

This is a song my Grandad used to sing when he and Uncle Harry had a couple of drinks and would remember old comrades. It mean a huge amount to him and to others who served in Italy in World War Two. Thank you to threelegsoman for his version of it.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters Literature festival.

Word sculpture, Chatsworth

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:35:13 GMT

A fantastic sculpture of words, including some from the Bible, in an eighteenthcentury building at Chatsworth Park, Derbyshire

Sites of meaning, Middleton by Youlgreave

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:28:20 GMT

One of several beautiful poems in the Derbyshire village of Middleton. Find them on kerbs, on bridge parapets, on benches and on www.sitesofmeaning.org

Lemn Sissays Rain

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:24:39 GMT

Seen on a billboard in Oxford Road, Manchester near the University

Yeats in the loo

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:23:20 GMT

A Yeats poem on the tiles of the ladies toilet at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal

Edwin Morgan poem

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:20:49 GMT

An extract from a poem by Edwin Morgan, the Scottish Machair

Bench poem, Monsal Dale

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:10:23 GMT

A little poem on a bench on the Monsal viaduct, Derbyshire

Unknown

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:05:35 GMT

Poem on a bench in Eyam, Derbyshire

These streets...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:36:19 GMT

A brand new millenium of men and women playing with the policedeveloping a vision with ideas that release their minds from the piece of the pie the beast eatsand whilst vibing with the people the riot cop weeps and leavesand these streets speak with the ends they meanthe pen dreams of defending the friends of the freeand them lending a penny to the people that need itso maybe we can teach each other our secretsand love will ease the suffering so that we can breathe againplease never give up on chasing your dreams my friendsand when we wake in the dark, Ill spark up a candle let the hatred departembracing the man in me that takes it apart, partakes in the fantasies that breaks her heartand thats that from the start to the finishthe bars that diminish when your cards are consideredthe stars start to listen, the guards start to give inwhen living by the vision of the villagers imprisonedthe anarchist kids raise fists and resistpick bricks up and chase pigs pissed with their bulletsand its blatant the state is the bitch of the capitalist system that pays for the fullestand thats why Im making a promise to honor this gift Ive been given by engaging with the polislost in the commodities some pray to the profits, the bosses and offers that keep us slaves to this god we must abolish its bollocks, my friends our fate is upon usso lets stay awake and get on it.

For the workers killed in the Plug Riots

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:09:18 GMT

This is from the memorial to the four textile workers killed in the Plug Riots of 1842. The men were killed as they protested in support of the chartist cause and for the rights of workers.The full texts readsRemember remember people of proud Preston that progress towards justice and democracyhas not been achieved without great sacrificeRemember remember people of proud Prestonto defend vigorously the rights given to you strive to enable the rights of those who follow.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters Literature festival

Magnetic poetry

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:58:37 GMT

A poem made in a cafe on a rainy day in the Trough of Bowland by Fay.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest, Lancasters literature festival.

I must go down to the sea again

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:46:46 GMT

I remember it from school.Uploaded by MarieClare for a visitor to Litfest, Lancasters literature festival.

Opening Mantra for Asthanga Vinyasa Yoga by Sarah

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:11:39 GMT

This is a recording of the opening chant that begins the practice of Asthanga Vinyasa yoga by Sarah.Opening MantraOmVande gurunam caranaravideSandarasita svatma sukhava bodheNih sreyase jangalikayamaneSamsara halahala mohasantyaiAbahu purusakaramSankhacakrasi dharinamSahasra sirasam svetamPranamami patanjalimOmOmI pray to the lotus feet of the supreme guruWho teaches knowledge awakening the great happiness of the self revealedWho acts like the jungle physicianAble to remove the delusion from the poison of conditioned existenceTo Patanjali, an Adisesa, white in colour with a thousand radient heads (in his form as the divine serpent, Ananta), human in form below the shoulders, holding the sword of discrimination, a wheel of fire representing infinite time, and the conch representing divine sound to him, I prostrate.OmUploaded by MarieClare for Litfest Lancasters Literature festival.

Old Bikers Never Die

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:41:11 GMT

This was seen outside a mobile chip shop in Glasson Dock . Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Vitai Lampada

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:45:10 GMT

I am posting this for my dad. This is what he said about the poem. I learned the poem by rote at grammar school circa 1952. Why I can still remember it word for word half a century later I do not know. I did not retain the French Grammar I learned that would have been more more useful. I cannot remember the names of people I met last week that might be handy. I find the sentiments of the poem cringemaking and I had/have nothing whatsoever in common with the author. It must remain one of lifes great mysteries.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Holyhead Lairage

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:38:32 GMT

A description of the (now vanished) Holyhead Lairage, where cattle would be kept for transhipment to Ireland by ferry to be fattened, then brought back for slaughter and sale. This was the view from my first office in 1981, Stanley House, Market Square, Holyhead.

Your Slippers

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:21:53 GMT

This is about a woman who wears her husbands slippers (that are too big for her) which triggers childhood memories of wearing her Mums shoes. Then she goes on to say that she can never fill his shoes because of gender inequality...

Birmingham poet laureate, Adrian Johnson in the city with the BBC

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:25:16 GMT

On his first day in post, Adrian took the word to the streets of Birminghum with some praise poems for some of the cities public art works.

Backwards

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:24:53 GMT

Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Hold Tight

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:19:12 GMT

Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Bob Dylan

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:14:02 GMT

Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Forward Ever

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:09:03 GMT

Mr Gee, co host and poet, shared these lines with us in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Beautious evening

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:46:30 GMT

Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Beech Ball haiku

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:08:18 GMT

Worded beech balls bounced across the audience their random movements in the atmosphere eventually positioned themselves into this haikuCaptured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

DONT HURT ME

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:31:55 GMT

On a nice old Imperial at the Forest Cafe, 3 Bristo Place, in Edinburgh, I found this simple oneliner Dont Hurt Me.

a failing dream

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:03:14 GMT

A tribute to the dreams and efforts of so many and a stark reminder that we still have a long way to go to shake off discrimination on the grounds of race.

the theatre

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:53:03 GMT

magic

The Rotunda Quatrains

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:38:14 GMT

A little love / hate poem about a notorious / iconic building in the middle of Birmingham that people love / hate

A word from the host

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:02:13 GMT

Heres the host of National Poetry Day Live 2009, Joelle Taylor, minutes before she took to the stage..(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Man See Mum

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:42:29 GMT

Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Tomatoes

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:40:05 GMT

...it may not appear to be poetry, but its certainly true...Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Try Hard

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:38:30 GMT

This is a line from Linkin Park. I like how they make the line try hard sound. I also like their use of repitition in their lyrics..Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Love hates us

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:33:09 GMT

This is a quote from a song. Its true in a way. But even though people get heart broken, they always bounce back...Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Wordplay

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:27:26 GMT

This is poetry because poetry is about great wordplay..Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

My Motto

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:23:56 GMT

this is my general, lifes motto..Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Love Poetry

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:18:31 GMT

It just came into my head. I made it up on the spot..Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

One Time

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:14:46 GMT

This is a favourite saying of a singer I know called Sarkodie. To me, it means youve always got a chance in life so make the best of what you do..Captured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Tangents

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:03:36 GMT

These words take the quintessential look at the way my mind worksCaptured in the photobooth, during National Poetry Day Live 2009, Southbank Centre.(To see more, go to http//www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/sets/72157622443581755)

Bus Need Iraq

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:30:22 GMT

The 59 bus is my transport to poetry every Monday morning, it seems. Stopping in Brixton town centre I heard this rhythmic shouting...not a preacher of religion it turned out, but a man berating the bus passengers. (photo credit Oxyman via Wikimedia Commons)

Samboos Grave A childs response

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:18:15 GMT

This is one of a group of poems written by local children in response to the grave of an 18th century African man referred to locally as Samboo. The grave is located near the village of Sunderland Point on the Lune Estuary. The grave and his story is a reminder of role the local ports played in the Transatlantic slave trade.

The Window

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:09:46 GMT

A beat poem I really dig by Diane de Prima

Lyveden New Bield

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:26:07 GMT

Lyvden New Build is one of the most haunting survivals of the Elizabethan age. This roofless shell remains unfinished after work stopped at the death of Sir Thomas Tresham in 1605. When his son was exposed as one of the Gun Powder plotters, the family lost their wealth and the site remained incomplete.I wrote this while I was guiding an audio tour around the area,starting from Fermyn Woods Gallery.For more of my poetry please go towww.myspace.com/ravingbansheeFor my monthly poetry night in Birminghamwww.myspace.com/rhymesnight

By Leaves We Live

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:43:28 GMT

In the Cannongate area of Edinburgh a group named SOOT have been battling the continued redevelopment of the area. In the past ten years Edinburgh, a world heritage site, has continually altered (some would say destroyed) the character of the district. Anyway, on their blog (http//independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com) they reminded me of this great line which you can just outside of the Scottish Poetry Library. (www.spl.org.uk)As taken from Patrick Geddes who lived in Edinburgh and worked to make it a better place to liveThis is a green world, with animals comparatively few and small,and all dependent on the leaves.By leaves we live.Some people have strange ideas that they live by money.They think energy is generated by the circulation of coins.Whereas the world is mainly a vast leaf colony,growing on and forming a leafy soil,not a mere mineral massand we live not by the jingling of our coins,but by the fullness of our harvests. Patrick Geddes

Adam in the Ukraine

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:01:10 GMT

Adam Mickiewicz is generally regarded as the greatest Polish Romantic poet. This photo, however, is from Lviv, Ukraine. The Adam Mickiewicz monument was fashioned by the sculptor Anthony Sulima Popiel and erected in 1904.I wish I could explain why one of Polands greatest poets has a monument in Lviv but I cant. My guess is that Ukraine was once Poland and they happen to love poetry. Heres a sample of his work(for more on adam see http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/poems/342/meetmeatadam)THE STORMThe rudder breaks, the sails are ripped, the roarOf waters mingles with the ominous soundOf pumps and panic voices all aroundTorn ropes. The sun sets red, we hope no more The tempest howls in triumph from the shoreWhere wet cliffs rising tier on tier surroundThe ocean chaos, death advances, boundTo carry ramparts broken long before,One man has swooned, one wrings his hands ,one sinksUpon his friends, embracing them. Some saya prayer to death that it may pass them by.One traveller sits apart and sadly thinks,,Happy the man who faints or who can prayOr has a friend to whom to say goodbye.Translated by Dorothea Prall Radin, 1938

Go to Lvov

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:47:33 GMT

I was in Lviv (Lvov) when a friend recommended the following amazing poem.Id never read it before and I am glad I went to Lviv as it caused this fine poetry to fall into my life.http//www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.htmlid177929The photo is of Neptune, I am guessing, dressed in a toga. Which I thought was classy.

Meet me at Adam

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:03:54 GMT

Recently I was in Krakow, Poland. In the main market square youll find this statue not of a politician, a general or a horse but of a poet normally with people hanging out on it, smoking, sometimes drinking beers, killing time. Apparently, the statue is of Adam Mickiewicz and it is common for locals to say, Meet me at Adam. Mickiewicz is generally regarded as the greatest Polish Romantic poet. He was one of Polands Three Bards, along with Zygmunt Krasiski and Juliusz Sowacki. How cool is that A poet immortalized in bronze for all to climb upon. Heres one of his sonnets THE PILGRIMA rich and lovely country wide unrolled,A fair face by me, heavens where white clouds sail,Why does my heart forever still bewailFardistant lands, more distant days of oldLitwa! your roaring forests sang more boldThan Salhir maid, Baydary nightingaleIdrather walk your marshes than this valeOf mulberries, and pineapples of gold.Here are new pleasures, and I am so far!Why must I always sigh distractedlyFor her I loved when first my morning starArose In that dear house I may not see,Where yet the tokens of her lover are,Does she still walk my ways and think of me and you can find more here http//daisy.htmlplanet.com/amick.htm

Quote the Raven, Nevermore.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:50:16 GMT

Theres a little place in Edinburgh named, The Poetry Gardens which were lucky to have. Sadly, at the moment, not many people know it is a poetry garden so the Scottish Poetry Library and others host random poetic interventions there to promote poetry in the city. Here Gilchrist Muir recites the entirety of Poes The Raven to one of the park employees! The employee said, It made my day. And, hopefully, it made other peoples too. Gilchrist and Jamie Gordon both professional actors spent the afternoon in the gardens reciting poems from Shakespeare to Spike Mulligan to anyone who was willing to listen. Which, thankfully, was quite a lot of people.See Poes full epic here http//www.etsu.edu/English/Muse/poe.htmAnd the SPL will have a special Raven Podcast for Halloween!Check our podcast http//www.readingroom.spl.org.uk/podcasts/index.html

Hero!

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:35:46 GMT

Well, not really a poem but a word an important word especially considering that this was fond on National Poetry Day when the theme was heroes and heroines. I spent the day in St. Andrews Square handing out poetry postcards and then wandered around looking for cool GPS stuff. This bit of graffiti seemed like a good omen.For more about the poetry of heroes and to send an epoemhttp//www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk/ecards/

the mirror in my loo reminds me...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:27:09 GMT

A more recent poem Ive discovered and have taped to my loo mirror is Wendell Berrys How to be a Poet (to remind myself) which I have taped to my bathroom mirror. To remind myself, of course.The poem is in three parts each one with a new invocation. The bit I quote most to myself isBreathe with unconditional breaththe unconditioned air.Shun electric wire.Communicate slowly. Livea threedimensioned lifestay away from screens.Stay away from anythingthat obscures the place it is in.There are no unsacred placesthere are only sacred placesand desecrated places.Stay away from screens. Stay away from anything that obscures the place it is in.Reminds me, always, to get away from the evil, glowing devil box the notion of which tells me I should wrap this up and go the three dimensional!For more about the poems I carry see http//ryanvanwinkle.com/thepoemicarry/

Like a snake, my heart ....

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:24:27 GMT

One of the poems I carry with me is Federico Garcia Lorcas New Heart from his book Selected Verse. I bought the book on an inexplicable whim in Provincetown, Cape Cod the last little town on a long Massachusetts peninsula.I bought the book. (The first book of poetry I can remember buying.) And late that night, after a lifeguard known only as The Major had given me the best sexual advice Id yet had, when my friends had fallen asleep next to their beer cans and the embers of our fire glowed and popped, I opened to the first poem. It was the end of summer, there were loves and friends I would miss back up at University and, even then, I knew I might not see them again that year and maybe not the year after.I read the first lines of New Heart and Ive carried them on the tip of my tongue ever sinceLike a snake, my hearthas shed its skin.I hold it there in my hand,full of honey and wounds.And the battered book itself has been carried with me many places upstate New York, the green mountains of Vermont, Edinburgh and the coast of Spain where it felt very much at home with the with the smell of white sand, salt and seaweed. what poems do you carry with you where are they from For more see http//ryanvanwinkle.com/thepoemicarry/

Hero

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:14:48 GMT

Just in time for National Poetry Day! Heroes Heroines!

Whats behind the big red door

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:11:56 GMT

Written backwards on a door (albeit not red) down an alley.

A city built on Precipices G.K. Chesterton

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:06:59 GMT

A building under construction near St Andrews Square Gardens has all its windows covered in poetry. It seems like a city built on precipices, a perilous city. Great roads rush down hilllike rivers in spate. Great buildings rush up like rockets.G.K. Chesterton

This profusion of eccentricities Robert Louis Stevenson

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:01:33 GMT

A building under construction near St Andrews Square Gardens has all its windows covered in poetry. This profusion of eccentricities, this dream in masonry and living rock, is not a dropscene in a theatre, but a city in the world of everyday reality, Robert Louis Stevenson, from Edinburgh Picturesque Notes.

This is a city of shifting light Alexander McCall Smith

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:56:58 GMT

A building under construction near St Andrews Square Gardens has all its windows covered in poetry. This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.Alexander McCall Smith, on Edinburgh

The Kiss of the Sun Dorothy F. Gurney

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:48:37 GMT

In a park, in loving memory of two Woods, a very apt poem.

From O, Were I On Parnassus Hill, Burns

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:40:12 GMT

Walking to hand out poetry cards in St. Andrews Square Garden for National Poetry Day yesterday, eyes like magpies for poems everywhere. Found a couple on the way.

Imprinting

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:48:29 GMT

Printers blocks from Goodnight Vienna, Brick Lane, on my kitchen windowsill.

The River Anker by Jane Holland

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:42:03 GMT

Part of the Polesworth Poets Trail Warwickshire

Today I am...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:20:00 GMT

Saw this on a billboard in London was pretty taken with it )

If you know you cant have the best in life....why bother

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:41:45 GMT

An interesting and challenging question that i found graffitied on a wall at Cromer Beach...

An Ode to Booze

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:15:23 GMT

Went for lunch today in The George Inn in London Bridge, one of the oldest pubs in London (over 500 years). Was happily eating my fish chips and pint when I spied this on the wall. It is a line from one of Thomas Moores poems which is essentially, an ode to boozeWeep on, weep on, my pouting vine!Heaven grant no tears but tears of wine.Even at your saddest moments, says Moore, you can still enjoy a drink. Hear hear!

Twin Exodus

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:40:15 GMT

One of my mums many poems. This one is about me and my sister.

Tranquility

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:31:17 GMT

My mum wrote this poem it was published in a book called International Poets in 1996.

Michael Rosen Platform

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:37:42 GMT

Michael Rosen visited Derry on Friday, October 2nd to perform for an audience of 600 local school children. The event took place in the Guildhall and was organised by Booktrust and the Verbal Arts Centre. After the event, Michael conducted a book signing session. He generously took time out of his busy schedule to record one of his poems for the GPS website its called Platform and its set at Pinner train station. Thanks to Rory McCarron for filming and editing the video.

Bags

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:34:05 GMT

Sitting in Lancasters one and only Cafe Nero first thing this morning, I found myself next to a pair of mature ladies. They did not say a word to each other as they drank their morning coffees but, then, one of the women came out with twelve enigmatic words . . . After this revelation, they returned to their contentend silence and all three of us felt that little bit wiser.

Formed in Wales

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:55:39 GMT

I was amazed to find that the lovely retired Canon Yerburgh at church, who puts together very entertaining religious celebrations which attract the thespian in me, also writes books. I read his An attempt to depict the Northern Cambrian Mountains An artistic impression mainly because it had the word artistic in its labourious title and because hes such a lovely, interesting man. When I finally put the book down, I wrote this afterward, inspired by the imagery, the detail he gave.

CrispAutumn

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:33:32 GMT

theboywyatt who lives in the valeeys of South Wales writes wonderful haikus and visual poetry, so much so, i stalk him on twitter and tumblr and blogspot! Here is a lovely evocative haiku on Autumn

Crazy Future Wish List

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:04:35 GMT

A white board poem found at Lancaster University.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Michael Rosen visits the Verbal Arts Centre

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:13:36 GMT

Michael Rosen visited Derry on Friday, October 2nd to perform for an audience of 600 local school children. The event took place in the Guildhall and was organised by the Verbal Arts Centre and Booktrust. After the event, Michael conducted a book signing session. He generously took time out of his busy schedule to record one of his poems for the GPS website.

Passersby Poetry Hopscotch 7

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:40:44 GMT

Together with the poet Naomi Woddis, I run a literature, education, performance and curating consultancy called Word Migrants. You know, have words, will travel and all that.A few weeks ago, we created an early morning event called Poetry Hopscotch. We invited a number of poets to accompany us to Southbank Centre to create chalk written poems on the pavements of Southbank Centre. It was important that these works were fleeting and immediate hence writing them in chalk. We were unaware that we needed permission to do this and were politely told by security to discontinue with which we obliged. However, the event was a success the participants really enjoyed it and the poetry caught the attention of passersby.

Start From the Top Poetry Hopscotch 6

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:37:32 GMT

Sweet Poetry Hopscotch 5

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:34:18 GMT

Hairy Scary Man Poetry Hopscotch 4

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:31:13 GMT

He Broke Wind Poetry Hopscotch 3

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:27:57 GMT

Marmight!

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:20:51 GMT

I am firmly in the camp that hates Marmite but even it is getting in on the poetry act. I couldnt get a clear photograph of the writing on the jar but it says I dont thinkIll ever writea poem as lovely asMarmiteNot a sentiment that I can readily agree with then but it struck a chord. And the duck in the superman cape just happens to be called Quack Kent. I think hes got a penchant for yeast extract.

Along For the Ride Poetry Hopscotch 2

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:44:08 GMT

Along with the poet Naomi Woddis, I run a literature, education, performance and curating consultancy called Word Migrants. You know, have words, will travel and all that.A few weeks ago, we created an early morning event called Poetry Hopscotch. We invited a number of poets to accompany us to Southbank Centre to create chalk written poems on the pavements of Southbank Centre. It was important that these works were fleeting and immediate hence writing them in chalk. We were unaware that we needed permission to do this and were politely told by security to discontinue with which we obliged. However, the event was a success the participants really enjoyed it and the poetry caught the attention of passersby.I love the rich russets of the fallen autumn leaves against the unrelenting grey of the pavement. Lends the poem a certain kind of poignancy to my mind. I swear the leaves just happened to be exactly where they fell.

Thinking Woman

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:19:11 GMT

Well who knew Status updates on Facebook can make for strange alchemy. The surprising thing for me is that I didnt have to manipulate the lines too much to construct something that approximated a poem that seemed to be saying something.

Trainers Poetry Hopscotch 1

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:32:17 GMT

Together with the poet Naomi Woddis, I run a literature, education, performance and curating consultancy called Word Migrants. You know, have words, will travel and all that. A few weeks ago, we created an early morning event called Poetry Hopscotch. We invited a number of poets to accompany us to Southbank Centre to create chalk written poems on the pavements of Southbank Centre. It was important that these works were fleeting and immediate hence writing them in chalk. We were unaware that we needed permission to do this and were politely told by security to discontinue with which we obliged. However, the event was a success the participants really enjoyed it and the poetry caught the attention of passersby.

Sifundo, guerilla poet at Broadway Market, Write to Ignite, Hackney Literature Festival

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:14:08 GMT

I recently took part as a guerilla poet in Write to Ignite during the Hackney Literature Festival. The idea was to accost members of the general public at Broadway Market, foist poetry on them and publicise the Festival with the same literary stone. Oh no, we werent going to wait for the people to come to poetry, we decided to take the poetry to the people. Oh yes! We found that everybody in hairdressing salons, cafes, on the street, in bars was really receptive to the idea of a bunch of poets spouting poetry to liven up their day. Who said poetry is dead From what I can ascertain, the man on the street just loves a bit of verse. This is the poet Sifundo in full flow in an arts bookshop.

No.3 River Terrace a hidden place.

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:54:07 GMT

I just love this installation. I love the way it uses writing and poetry to engage with a community and the way that it rediscovers or finds a lost history. Heres Alison White, the poet and artist, on what inspired and informed her installationAn installation on the railings on Church Street, overlooking the recent and mysterious revelation of the remains of No3 River Terrace. The installation will form a kind of temporary museum documenting the house and its contents and displaying the findings from my research into the house and its owner. As well as information from my own research and documentation I will be seeking help from members of the public, passers by, or anyone who can shed any light on the mystery and any information or artifacts that this produces will be displayed on the same stretch of railings.Alison White is a writer and creative with a particular interest in how creative writing can be used to build and enrich community. An award winning poet, Alison has presented her writing in handmade chapbooks, as well as being published widely in poetry magazines including Magma and The Interpreters House.Hiddenplace is a showcase of visual, performing, and new media arts, a series of temporary commissions for new creative work in a range of media, an animation programme for hidden, forgotten or disused spaces in Burnley town centre. Hiddenplace recently won the Creative Solution to a Space category in the Creativity Works Award 2009. www.hiddenplace.org.uk

A letter to Patience

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:59:12 GMT

What I didnt know when I agreed to take part in the Southsea Festival is that I would be reading alongside the fantastic poet and Costa Award winner for Poetry 2006, John Haynes. He read some poems from Letter to Patience amongst others. Sublime. Check out his website www.jhaynestab.co.uk

Tow Zone

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:39:48 GMT

Exploring Boston during the Boston Comedy Festival, I found this shoe abandoned and perfectly positioned on this street sign. Made me wonder if the owner of this single shoe had come a cropper because he wasnt a permitted construction vehicle and was simply standing around.

The Beard of the Earth

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:24:27 GMT

After a meeting at the Tate, I took the opportunity to take a turn around the gallery and chanced upon this mosaic pavement in the William Blake room. The pavement consists of 8 panels taken from the proverbs in Blakes Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The inscription readsThe eyes of fireThe nostrils of airThe mouth of waterThe beard of earth

Dirty pachyderm, anyone

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:42:06 GMT

I found this at Snow White Cleaners round the corner from where I used to live, on Stroud Green Road. Who knew you can get your elephants AND ladybirds laundered in this town But this is London, it shouldnt surprise me.

Fight Your Inner Misery

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:40:55 GMT

A piece of the Berlin Wall brought to Lancaster.Uploaded by MarieClare for Litfest as part of Lancasters literature festival.

Hypothesis

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:12:21 GMT

The glass balustrade on our mezzanine here at the Scottish Poetry Library has text work throughout. When the sun shines in a particular way (and it rarely does so, or at least at the right angle, or vibrancy!) the word HYPOTHESIS, from Iain Crichton Smiths THIS FRESH HYPOTHESIS is projected onto the wall downstairs, above our clock. Some architectural students had heard about this feature of the building, and came to see for themselves we were happy to be able to show them this picture.

Pleuan by John Manson

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:23:20 GMT

John reads his poem Pleuan, remembering a childhood in Caithness. John is now based in Dumfriesshire and is a MacDiarmid expert.This was recorded as part of a collaboration between The Scots Language Centre and Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association.To hear more Scots poetry and to read about the Scots language visit www.scotslanguage.com

Staunin Stanes by Derek Ross

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:18:52 GMT

Derek reads his poem, a response to standing stones in Galloway.This was recorded as part of a collaboration between The Scots Language Centre and Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association.To hear more Scots poetry and to read about the Scots language visit www.scotslanguage.com

Dutch Courage

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:40:01 GMT

Lovely old ad for bitter, an anachronistic hint of the Obama campaign somewhere in there

Hadnt even crossed my mind

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:19:50 GMT

A last vestige of beautifully typeset stern Victoriana that virtually compels you to get up to some mischief.

Basket Makers by Doug Curran

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:51:14 GMT

The basket makers of Newton Stewart in the 1940s and 50s. The poet Doug Curran describes where he got the idea for this poem from as well as reading the poem.This was recorded as part of a collaboration between The Scots Language Centre and Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association.To hear more Scots poetry and to read about the Scots language visit www.scotslanguage.com

Pastoral by Sheena Blackhall

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:46:07 GMT

Read by the poet Sheena Blackhall, this is a view of country folk and town folk.To hear more Scots poetry and to read about the Scots language visit www.scotslanguage.com

Nine to Five

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:45:01 GMT

On the steamy, grumpy Monday morning bus to work, and listening to music through headphones that block out the rest of the world, Dolly Parton is singing. Tiny, sparkly Dolly with her amazing rhymes that make you laugh and feel like this week is going to be great.

I Am Okay , by Virginia Satir

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:20:51 GMT

All you need to be okay with yourself.

Love After Love, by Derek Walcott

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:18:30 GMT

This is one of my favorite poems, possibly my favorite one ever. Just beautiful and so hopeful.

The Layers, by Stanley Kunitz

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:14:10 GMT

Beautiful, dont like to say much about my poems, just read it.

The Round (last few lines), By Stanley Kunitz

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:11:34 GMT

.... really lovely and hopefull

fervent wish

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:17:17 GMT

I found this in my 5 yr old sons colouring book. He still holds this wish and talks about how great it will be when it comes true, its the thing he wants more than anything and asks for from Father Xmas every year.

the priceof bread Author unknown photo by Graham Page

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:21:10 GMT

I found this gem on King Street Manchester one night.. (on the way back home from a binge at allbarone.. but less of that!).. a mobile phone snap again!I think it was a publicity promo for an event somewhere... and its not there anymore.. (But there is something so very deeply philosophical about it that I love it... and want to share!G

Words of the Street from Flags by Lemn Sissay photo by Graham Page

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:25:01 GMT

Lemns words say it better than I ever could... but I just love these gems embedded in Tib Street Manchester..I have digitally remastered one of them from a pic taken on my mobile phone... It took many attempts and weeks of spare time effort, I just hope Ive done the original justice And maybe I might have ago at the rest (including the missing ones.. (if I can find the words).G

I Love Derby

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:54:52 GMT

I saw this in a shop window and thought it was awesome!

My Home

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:47:32 GMT

A poem about the place I live, written as part of an upcoming project based in derby, enjoy!

From Sailing Dinghy by Ian Hamilton Finlay

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:00:03 GMT

On display in the Tate Britain each of these lines relate to a numbered part of the dinghy which is also in the room. Interesting play between object and writing that enacts a positioning and movement of text in the mind of the viewer.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

madonna dont preach

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:48:32 GMT

Some of the lyrics to Madonnas sociallyconscious smash, rewritten as part of her chin on a vast south london billboard.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

gladiatorial helping

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:24:24 GMT

Looked behind me in a Bethnal Green caff and saw this on the wall, lovingly crafted from paper macheNICOS MIXED GRILLA GLADIATORS FILLI was having a cup of tea and an egg roll that came garnished with eight chips. I am not a gladiator.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

One Call Does It All

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:24:19 GMT

NOTHING TOO SMALL OR SOMETHING TOO TALLONE CALL DOES IT ALL...I love this my bus drove by too quickly to snap this poem in all its glory, but it makes me laugh. They were so desperate to rhyme it doesnt quite make sense.

A kind act

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:08:25 GMT

How impressive! Saving both a stranger, and a foreigner, on the same day! This tablet, found in Postmans Park, London, pays just tribute to a truly kind act.

Lines from The Seven Rocks

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:23:30 GMT

These lines reproduced on a plaque at Malham Cove, North Yorkshire, and theyre taken from The Seven Rocks an ambitious, sevenpart poem by the unjustly neglected Faber writer, Norman Nicholson. The lines sum up Nicholsons attempt to find the right, hard words to describe the ongoingness of geological process.

My fave Smiths song

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:05:08 GMT

I am really miserable

Homecoming Tattoo Robert Burns

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:50:20 GMT

I found this great painting of Robert Burns surrounded by masonic symbols at the Total Kunst art gallery. The exhibition, called Homecoming Tattoo, features paintings by a number of Scottish tattoo artists and celebrates this unique folkart. The first modern tattooist in Scotland was Prince Vallor, were informed, and he opened his tattoo parlour in Glasgow in 1939. This painting of Burns immediately called to mind one of my favourite Burns poems To a Mouse (AKA Tae a Moose) I heard somewhere that Seamus Heaney was giving a talk in Glasgow and someone asked him what he thought about the massive influx of Eastern Europeans immigrating to Scotland and the UK. Heaney, allegedly, simply replied Tae a Moose invoking Scotlands best loved bards. Im going to keep an eye out for actual Burns tattoos on actual people. In the meantime, enjoy the poemLink if you prefer http//www.readingroom.spl.org.uk/classicpoems/mcfarlane.htm

Never Enough

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:54:22 GMT

Spied this on a wall in a lovely space/bar/lounge/gallery in Seattle, WA...http//www.greygalleryandlounge.com/ I dont know much about its origins or installation, but I do know weve all felt this before. The beauty of it, what haunts me the most, is that the letters are mirrors.

keep

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:08:28 GMT

only your own

Its Only

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:07:43 GMT

A poem about the Humber Estuary.

Poetree

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:25:55 GMT

Found poem of conflicting textsDog NuisanceIS LIAM HE FUTURE OF BRITAINWriting R Felt SO GOODPdogs to foulfootwaysmy poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

The modern condition

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:17:20 GMT

In the window of a chinese remedy centre in Chinatown.SciaticaPsoriasisAnxietyStressmy poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Tip Up Seat

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:12:45 GMT

I didnt know it was called that.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Beige Flats

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:44:15 GMT

Every time I look at this I wonder why someone would first link these two words and take the trouble to spray them on a wall for the world to see. Im glad they did.

Inert Stone

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:34:12 GMT

Arent all stones inert Someone felt it was worth restating.

Toast Bud

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:29:54 GMT

Ground level grafitti on an industrial building. I took this picture in summer 2008 but last week (September 2009) it was still there. Nice word combination but Ive no idea what it might mean.

Greetings from Levenshulme

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:54:31 GMT

This poem (or really a series of pseudo haikus) was inspired by twenty years of living off Manchesters A6 Corridor a surprisingly fertile source of inspiration! It was first published on www.rainycitystories.com an interactive literary cityscape which uses Google map technology to link readers to stories and poems set in Manchester, launched as part of the Manchester Literature Festival in 2008. It is also to be published in my pamphlet collection, A Fools Height Short of Heaven, to be published by Sheffield Hallam University this autumn.

Time to stand and stare

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:33:39 GMT

This poetry plaque of WH Davies beautiful poem, Leisure, is wonderfully placed in front of a lake in the Wolseley Wildlife Centre in Staffordshire (www.wolseleycentre.org.uk). The inlaws have a caravan in nearby Silver Trees so this is a favourite haunt when we want to get away from the big city for a few days. Taking time to stand and read the poem automatically puts me in a very serene mood and life can suddenly seem very rich indeed.

I know you little, I love you lots

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:30:30 GMT

I found this in a book of love poetry Ive been reading a lot of love poems recently because Im getting married on Saturday...This kind of sums up my mood at the moment, and Ive put a pin in the map at the place were getting married.

cloud writing

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:22:45 GMT

lines from an Adrienne Rich poem are printed on the window of the Poetry Library and seem to be written on a cloud...my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Tina, we salute you

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:19:23 GMT

Going out in Dalston, we saw this sign. Dalston is an area in London where you expect to see signs like this. It made me think about context I think a lot of the WHAT IS THAT factor came from the writing being displayed on a board, semiofficially. If it had been scribbled on a wall it would have looked like a mad drunk tribute to a well loved friend.Ive since found out its an advert for an arty cakey coffeeey shop,my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

More News From Nowhere

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:58:08 GMT

In retrospect, Id have had a much quicker journey by tube and rail (I could have got to Manchester in the time it took) but I wanted to try a little exercise to see what kind of poem would come out from things that I saw, heard, read and indeed, found on a bus journey. Ive resisted editing my first impressions as I was keen to keep the character of what gave me that initial charge of poetry. But that might change tomorrow!

Everything But the Oink

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:40:38 GMT

A little experiment that worked surprisingly well. The poem is made up entirely from lines I found at various locations in London. They lines are written pretty much as I first encountered them, I havent edited them to fit. They come from1. The glass wall of Circus, Contemporary Applied Arts, Marylebone High Street, London.2. Beyond Words, a book about language and how we are blinded to its subtleties by broadcaster John Humphrys.3. A poem about Orpheus and Eurydice by Jennifer K Dick.4. St Michaels Church, Camden during a bus journey. 5. Issue 2 of Roland, the Institute of Contemporary Arts magazine. 6. A bus hoarding advertising Jazz FM on Seven Sisters Road.7. My boyfriend.

The oldest profession

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:16:30 GMT

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, is the main heart of Edinburgh Festival. Its where everybody promoters, performers and anyone with a vested interest in the Free Fringe comes to flyer and holler about their shows and events. These two had run out of flyers but it wasnt going to stop them promoting anyway. You cant say it isnt eyecatching and it was certainly effective if the number of people they had coming up to them is anything to go by.

Keats House 5

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:05:32 GMT

I found Keats House on Keats Grove on my way to Hampstead tube station from the heath. As well as a Keats Close there was also a Keats Pharmacy and a Keats medical practice.Keats House is the museum where the poet John Keats lived from 1818 to 1820, and is the setting which inspired some of Keatss most memorable poetry. Here, Keats wrote Ode to a Nightingale, and fell in love with Fanny Brawne, the girl next door. It was from this house that he travelled to Rome, where he died of tuberculosis aged just 25.There was something a little forlorn about the noticeboards on the wall outside the House. Somehow they didnt convey how important an influence Keats is on the English poetic tradition. There was an imploring note asking for volunteers to help keep this thing of beauty and one notifying that the intercom wasnt working. Thats the intercom repairmans arm you can see in one of the pictures. I couldnt help thinking this represented a sign of the times, a sign that Keats was in danger of being forgotten, of no one answering the calls his poems invoke. Having said that, some of the quotations on the postcards on the noticeboard have entered into the English language.The photograph of my leg on the grass was taken simply because it tickled me to think I was standing on a spot where he might have had inspiration for one of his poems.

Keats House 4

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:59:31 GMT

Truss

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:50:34 GMT

This little video represents a new place I found to perform poetry and also makes good on one of my poetic preoccupations ie. journeys. Along with the poet Anjan Saha, I was traveling by train to a school in ClactononSea to go and teach Year 5 about poetry. It was about 7am and Anjan was full of more energy (madder than a basket of snakes, he was) than the unholy hour warranted, insisting that we film each other reciting a poem. I wasnt really in the mood but he cajoled me into it so I obliged and I have to say I like the raw, spontaneous feel of the film and the movement of trees in window. A couple of place names en route never fail to resonate with the poet in me Wivehoe and Thorpe le Soken. I wonder about etymology of both place names and to my ears, that errant le in Thorpe le Soken suggest something Gallic. Maybe even something Scandinavian, Viking perhaps.

Keats House 3

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:14:34 GMT

Keats HouseI found Keats House on Keats Grove on my way to Hampstead tube station from the heath. As well as a Keats Close there was also a Keats Pharmacy and a Keats medical practice.Keats House is the museum where the poet John Keats lived from 1818 to 1820, and is the setting which inspired some of Keatss most memorable poetry. Here, Keats wrote Ode to a Nightingale, and fell in love with Fanny Brawne, the girl next door. It was from this house that he travelled to Rome, where he died of tuberculosis aged just 25.There was something a little forlorn about the noticeboards on the wall outside the House. Somehow they didnt convey how important an influence Keats is on the English poetic tradition. There was an imploring note asking for volunteers to help keep this thing of beauty and one notifying that the intercom wasnt working. Thats the intercom repairmans arm you can see in one of the pictures. I couldnt help thinking this represented a sign of the times, a sign that Keats was in danger of being forgotten, of no one answering the calls his poems invoke. Having said that, some of the quotations on the postcards on the noticeboard have entered into the English language.The photograph of my leg on the grass was taken simply because it tickled me to think I was standing on a spot where he might have had inspiration for one of his poems.

Keats House 1

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:07:54 GMT

Keats House 2

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:01:50 GMT

Stealing trade

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:02:52 GMT

Found, after dinner, on a wall in Hoxton Square, London. Some members of the Vineyard had met for dinner to welcome fellow Vineyard poet, Mahogony Browne who is based in New York, to London. While the aphorism rings true and lingered in my mind for many days after Id seen it (because I couldnt made up my mind whether I agreed with it or not), it also occurred to me that the guerilla street artist Banksy is a hard act to follow. The Vineyard is an international collective of poets established by the poet Jacob SamLa Rose 3 years ago. The Vineyard consists of a vigorating mix of emerging and established poets straddling diverse poetic stances and supporting each other in their craft. The Vineyard poets come from the UK, the USA, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and the Caribbean. Mahogany Browne programs poetry at the acclaimed Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

Nobody Knows Anybody...

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:51:02 GMT

Dalmeny Street, Leith, Edinburgh

Where Quality Counts

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:10:56 GMT

An advertisement set outside a Fabric Alterations shop

Mural

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:10:50 GMT

Mural to represent the Irish hungerstrikers of 1981

Honour Our Dead

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:04:55 GMT

A war mural located in the centre of the Diamond in Derrys City Side To Our Honoured Dead And Those Who Served

You Just Have to Laugh

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:04:30 GMT

Found in shop window in Derrys city centre

Pain Gone

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:01:23 GMT

Pain Gone The Miracle Pen To Kill Pain An advertisement outside an accesory shop in Derrys City Side

Spend Less, Give More

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:59:15 GMT

Written on an archway in Derrys Walls in chalk

Going Cheap

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:01:49 GMT

The credit crunch bites for retailers of striped goods. Who knows what lengths they will go to.

Whispers Hairdressers

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:52:54 GMT

This poem can be seen iin the window of a local hairdressing salon

Inspiration at the Verbal Arts Centre

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:36:22 GMT

I didnt have to go very far to find this one its located on the outer wall of the Verbal Arts Centre

The boy stood on the burning deck

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:29:11 GMT

This is Jennys poem, that has somehow stuck in her head from when she was a yout. I like it because it reminds me of how much poetry there is in the playground and the sense that most children love poetry but perhaps lose that love when they grow up.

Writing on the Wall

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:26:27 GMT

I came across this when I was out in the town one evening in Sandinos Cafe Bar

Sorry

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:35:50 GMT

An Edinburgh pub shows faux remorse that their toilets are for patrons only.

Ripperology Graffiti

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:53:05 GMT

JUWESI DOCARE4 UChalked message on the south end of Middlesex Street. A nocturnal Ripperologist responds to the alleged cockney scribblings of Jack the Ripper (The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing)

a delay of eight syllables

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:25:23 GMT

Thomas A Clarks vinyl lettering was part of an exhibition here in the Scottish Poetry Library some time ago. We liked it so much we kept it there, on the window on the mezzanine level of the building. If you were standing on the terrace visible behind the lettering, youd be able to see Arthurs Seat.

The Bonnie Broukit Bairn

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:34:46 GMT

Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Scotlands Minister for the Environment, reads Hugh MacDiarmids poem, the Bonnie Broukit Bairn, at the office of the Scots Language Centre in the A K Bell Library, York Place, Perth. Roseanna Cunningham is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Perth. Find out more about the Scots Language Centre and hear more Scots poetry at www.scotslanguage.com

I can feel your smile

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:52:18 GMT

Found on a wall in Trinity Lane about 3 years ago it may still be there...

UNDERGROUND NEWSPAPER FRAGMENT

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:30:17 GMT

Like Ezra Pounds elusive attempt at a papyrus fragment from SapphoSpring....Too long...Gongula....I found a scrap of newspaper on an empty Jubilee line seat somewhere between Canning Town and Waterloo (lets say London Bridge). These were the only words that you could read in their entirety. If I say anything more I will spoil it.

I found this scrawled on a wall in Roma, just off of Via del Corso.

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:03:09 GMT

It speaks for itself. It barely makes sense yet makes perfect sense.

Ick hab an dich gedacht

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:20:15 GMT

We saw this on a big Sunday walk in Edinburgh, along the beautiful walk way called the Water of Leith. It reads Ick hab an dich gedacht. We couldnt work out if someone had changed the h in ich to a k to read ick.

Please Play

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:12:23 GMT

My friend Toby, who is always in the know about cultural happenings, suggested we go along to David Byrnes Playing the Building at the Roundhouse, last Friday. How to describe it...a funny little old organ linked up to all kinds of hammers and levers and girders and pipes when you struck a key, it played the building. The Roundhouse building used to be a steam engine repair shed, and the clunks and groans of playing the building evoked those trains from long ago, like their ghosts were still knocking about in the dark. I loved this direction, painted on the floor in front of the little organ. It feels like a good instruction for life, a tiny poem to carry around with me, a reminder to be playful with my surroundings.

Bowl of Welly Boots.

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:00:14 GMT

About to return from Edinburgh, saw this and realised in the context of the festival, nothing is unusual.Night... I STUCK MY HAND IN A BOWL OF WELLY BOOTSPEDESTRIANSpush button and waitfor signal oppositemy poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

The Message...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:56:29 GMT

Noticed this on the pavement lit by a street lamp on the way home from a barbeque.Stenciling can avoid adding to the political/advertising/oneposturingastheother language that surrounds us by using language in a way similar to conceptual poetry such as Gertrude Steinsfive words in a linemy poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Lorraine Hansberry

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:56:35 GMT

By my desk I have a corkboard. Hidden amongst the various postit notes of dreamscribbles and tax reminders and web sites I intend to visit is a photocopied picture taken from the back cover of my copy of A Rainsin in the Sun. It is a quote from playwright Lorraine Hansberry whose photo looks out at me from above her words reminding me of why I write and what my writing should be doing.The quote is a fabulous aspiration to have as a writer the aspiration to connect and to share illuminations together about each other.Joseph Coelhowww.poetryjoe.com

from Fulbright Scholars by Ted Hughes

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:17:52 GMT

this is an extract from Ted Hughes poem Fulbright Scholars from the collection Birthday Letters. In it, he describes the sensation of eating a peach (a symbol with a rich heritage in Twentieth Century modernist poetry and pop music Walking on the Beaches/Staring at the Peaches... , Do I dare to eat a peach... etc, etc). The peach may stand as a metaphor for all kinds of new experience. But in poetry, lets face it, its usually about sex.But the reason these lines struck me is not just because Ive got a onetrack mind. They capture something, very precisely, about the experience of being shocked by how little you really know, about being surprised again by life, even when you think you know it all and youve got used to taking things for granted. And that is a feeling that we all go through, again and again, however much we learn. And every peach I eat reminds me that life is full of surprises.

Nigel Jenkins on Harri Webb

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:46:47 GMT

For the final of the presentations on the Crunchs Reflections Night, eminent Welsh poet Nigel Jenkins introduces some and reintroduces others to the work of Swanseas Harri Webb.Captured during More Stuff Happens, 3 July 2009, at the Dylan Thomas Centre

Leslie on Idris Davies

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:26:43 GMT

Famous Canadian Leslie McMurty gives us the whatfor on influential South Wales poet Idris Davies. A hush falls over the usually raucous crowd.Captured during More Stuff Happens, 3 July 2009, at the Dylan Thomas Centre

Margot on Lynette Roberts

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:17:30 GMT

At our twicemonthly open mic we decided to shake things up a bit for the feature and get introduced to Welsh writers of the past. Here Margot Morgan gives us the dirt on Lynette Roberts, warera feminist and experimental poet.Captured during More Stuff Happens, 3 July 2009, at the Dylan Thomas Centre

Wood Ingham on RS Thomas

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:56:23 GMT

For Reflections Night at The Crunch we decided to give the kids a bit of history and context. Heres Swansea Writer/Poet Wood Ingham giving folks a rundown on beloved Welsh poet RS Thomas.Captured during More Stuff Happens, 3 July 2009, at the Dylan Thomas Centre

Two Visits to the MenanTol, West Penwith, Cornwall by Penelope Shuttle

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:15:57 GMT

Who could resist rabbitmown grass, a child who plungewriggles or, my personal favourite, the gorse outfragrancing the sea While hoicked out of the natural world to which Penelope Shuttle transports the reader through all his or her senses, to the wonderfully named meticulous hospital panics, we can read on and know that, at least through poetry, we can return whenever we want to the everopen places massive orbit.

Heart on the sharp, hard streets

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:03:15 GMT

I pass this soulstirring poem by Tess Lomas, commissioned by St Lukes Church in Ardwick, every day on my way into work. Sometimes the sun glints off the gold lettering, tempting me off the bus and out onto the cold hard streets to follow the verse round the full body of the church. Luckily I had my camera in my bag the other day so managed to take this very shaky film of one verse I hope you like the background poetry of the traffic!

An Arundel Tomb Phillip Larkin

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:26:33 GMT

This bit of the poem woke me out of the usual depression of A Level English and Phillip Larkin. I was 17 and miserable at the time. Hope is the feeling it evokes. I have bought Philip Larkins Whitsun Wedding last year to revisit how good the poetry is.By Claire Morgan, remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

Shakespeare condensed

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:06:44 GMT

chrisdonias contribution to West Port Book Festivals Project Twutenberg the entire works of Shakespeare in one tweet!http//westportbookfestival.org/literarytwestival/challengesprojecttwutenberg

From The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service recited by Peggy

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:12:01 GMT

Peggy from the Scottish Poetry Library recites a poem her grandmother taught her, and describes why in the clip.The Scottish Poetry Library are one of our partner organisations. Find out more herehttp//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

When Sir Beelzebub... by Edith Sitwell recited by Woodstock

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:49:27 GMT

Woodstock My dad said hes give half a crown to any of his children who can recite this poem! Probably late 60s, 1968 or something, before decimilisation!

To a Mouse by Rabbie Burns recited by Joe

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:19:20 GMT

Joe loves the timeless quality of these lines particularly the image of an ordinary person dealing with the magnitude of the world at a particular point in time. Looking back on the history of your life, thinking what was that all about and, even worse, the future is so scary... but the speaker is talking to a mouse, its reassuring as well as being a bit bleak... the poem picks up on the psychological emotional constraints of the speakers environment... Its saying everythings relative. Ive chosen to place this in Afghanistan because I can imagine someone waking up in the morning, looking around them and feeling helpless. These lines are for them.

fevvers

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:41:57 GMT

Angela Carters Nights at the Circus condensed into Twitter size by Ryan. Havent actually read the book but saw the great Knee High production in Lyric Hammersmith and love Angela Carter.For West Port Book Festivals Project Twutenberghttp//westportbookfestival.org/literarytwestival/challengesprojecttwutenberg

Poetry, Painting, Panini

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:21:09 GMT

MondrianMonetMargarita xPoetryPaintingPanini xAdvertising hoarding spotted on Southwark Street, Bankside, London

Only Joe

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:58:56 GMT

ONLY JOE!!!Found on Shoreditch High Street

Whitechapel Paranoia 1

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:54:40 GMT

PALACE ALONG WITH ARMY EXPERIMENTING ONILL UNEMPLOYED.Found on hoardings outside Aldgate East Tube Station

Abandon Ship!

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:35:01 GMT

Abandon Ship!Abandon Ship!Found on a hoarding at the bottom of Boundary Street, Shoreditch

Mr G Fawkes

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:50:13 GMT

Found text graffitied on a subway wall discovered whilst hiking in 2002. What does it mean Who wrote it What did they want to achieve Why the text message abbreviationby Tom Chivers,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

Hold Everything Dear, John Berger

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:28:57 GMT

I picked this line not because it is a poem from the deep recesses of my memories, but because it is in a book that was given to me at a moment when my mind felt blown wide open and I felt an urge to think and act less selfishly and more for humanity. by Catherine Rogers,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

Welcome to your mouths and tongues

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:33:40 GMT

Jacob Polley was commissioned by Litfest in 2004 to write a poem on The Storey Institute as it became the Storey Creative Industries Centre.

MY PLACE

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:47:10 GMT

A poem/rap on place.. and where I am from.... MIDLANDS!!! Born n Bred in Birmingham now living in Derby

Goosey Goosey Gander

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:38:46 GMT

The voice in which I remember it is what ties the poem to the location, Lagos, Nigeria, the place I was first exposed to nursery rhymes. The first 4 lines are my favourite. I cant have been older than 7 years old. It evokes my first encounter with words. My first encounters with words whose stories were foreign to me.Dzifa Benson,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

Entry into the visitor book at the National Holocaust Museum, by a school child aged 12(ish)

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:30:41 GMT

I always come back to this poem when I want to define poetry, or literature in general. It so perfectly captured the sense of isolation caused by encountering barbary that it has remained with me ever since.There was no effort to this poetry. It was simply someone putting words together to convey an emotion. And it captures something, something truthful, something universal. It is beautiful, pure, and simple. Sam Ruddock,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

If I could write words Spike Milligan

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:17:50 GMT

I randomly picked up a little hardback collection of his poems from the College libraryby Nathan Lunt,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

Mere Mann

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:12:08 GMT

This is in the Hindi language and features in a Bollywood film song. The meaning is, Oh mind of mine,Tell me thisWhere are you goingWhat havent you gainedWhat are you looking forOh mind of mine, My eternal friend, Tell me that which you have never said, Tell me that which no one has heardtell meBhavit Mehta,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

The Lake Isle Of Innisfree

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:55:24 GMT

This poem is tied to the past and present at once. Past my father in Canada, 25 years ago, who lived in the city and dreamed of living in the country. Present Brixton, an urban environment where we yet have an allotment, filled with beans and bees Shazia Quraishi,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

The Person C.H. Sisson

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:42:12 GMT

I love the rhyme, then form and the slightly gloomy metaphysical questions it asks. Chris Gribble,remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

Loves Philosophy by PB Shelley

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:56:25 GMT

Awe inspiring! Simply my favourite poem

To This Lost Love

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:32:16 GMT

A year ago, 29, I was out with a group of friends having a drink. I had recently become single. I remember the intensity and the painful beauty of the language. The cover of the book was light blue and the book collection was called A Book of Matches. The difficulty of love has somehow since seemed pursed with the colour blue, and a wooden table and matches and a gin and tonic.Lydia Towsey, remembered during a NALD event, 16.07.09N.A.L.D. is a G.P.S. Partner Organisation http//gps.southbankcentre.co.uk/partners

sidewalk poetry, concrete love

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:36:40 GMT

I found across the street from my friends place in Hawthorne, Victoria, Australia.I have a little thing for concrete love, so this beautiful thought under my feet made my heart sing.There ought to be more poetry in the streets. It might make us stop rushing for our train, and remember what makes us happy. A beautiful anonymous declaration of love. When we are permament.Draw our names,in wet concrete

Its My Bedroom

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:16:19 GMT

Year 6 pupils from Ystruth Primary School, Blaina, Gwent Visited Abergavenny Library as part of their visit to the town of words.Early Years worker Julia Rogers and Library Manager Claire Cross shared two of their favourite poems with the pupils. Claire CrossThis poem was read to the group as Claire has two teenage children and can relate to the poem

Down the stream the swans all glide

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:13:46 GMT

Year 6 pupils from Ystruth Primary School, Blaina, Gwent Visited Abergavenny Library as part of their visit to the town of words.Early Years worker Julia Rogers and Library Manager Claire Cross shared two of their favourite poems with the pupils. Julia RogersThis poem was read on her first visit to London aged 8 walking alongside the Thames and reading the poems as she went. This is the one that stays most clearly in her mind

Cennaus Bell

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:08:29 GMT

The Collective PressThis top quality poetry publisher has enjoyed 19 years of bringing, often unheard, poets to print. At its helm John Jones and Frank Olding.A brief interview with John Jones (JJ) by Ric Hool ((RH)(RH) How did the press first start(JJ)As an extension of a group of poets meeting to discuss their work. It just grew from there. You might say from enthusiasm.(RH) What were the first publications like(JJ) Chapbooks, with plainish covers. We used to photocopy the pages and have gettogethers to fold and staple, usually about a hundred copies at a time. Now the books are perfect bound and of a high quality in both content and production.The Collective is a nonprofitmaking organisation formed in 1990 to promote and publish contemporary poetry. Funds are raised through a series of poetry events held in and around The Collective is a nonprofitmaking organisation formed in 1990 to promote and publish contemporary poetry. The backing and generosity of fellow writers is a cornerstone of The Collectives success. Vital funding comes from public bodies including the Arts Council of Wales and donations are often received in support of the movement from members of the public.

Mrs Midas

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:41:49 GMT

Six top quality readings each year make this venue a jewel in the crown of Welsh poetry events.Audiencewise you get a good mix dropping in, from the rhyme dabbler to the lovecrash survivor looking for healing, but the mainstay patrons at any Hen Chicks reading are writers and poets, supporting and challenging the guest reader, urging the very best for the 5 entry fee.Readers over the years include Carol Ann Duffy, Lee Harwood, Tom Pickard, Hilary LlewellynWilliams, Val Bloom, Chris Torrance, Peter Finch, Barry Mac Sweeney, Ian MacMillan, Anne Cluysenaar, Robert Minhinnick, Jeff Nuttall, Jerem Hylton, Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih. The list goes into hundreds.It would be careless not to mention the force that Jeff Nuttall brought to the early readings. Jeff, chairman of the Collective Writers Group that met fortnightly at The Hill College, Abergavenny, demanded the comment of the table was not enough and that the writing should be brought into the public domain. Readings are on Tuesday evening, unless advertised otherwise, in the upstairs room. Sixteen years on, The Poetry Readings at the Hen Chicks remain one of the longest running, and important, poetry events in Wales.ContactHen ChicksFlannel StreetAbergavennyOrRic HoolRichardhool05aol.com

The Soldier

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:19:23 GMT

This wellestablished book selling chain has an airy atmosphere and a good selection of popular poetry.Ric Hool spoke to employee Angela TimminsRH Why this poemAT My English teacher, Miss Allan, installed in me my love of all literature whilst studying for my C.S.E. As a result I have been involved in the selling of books for about 20 years.

Pangur Ban

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:16:00 GMT

This wellestablished book selling chain has an airy atmosphere and a good selection of popular poetry.Waterstones hosted a stop off break for Ystruth Primary Y6 pupils, and were treated to a reading by employee, Peter Davies.Ric Hool Why this poemPD Im a cat lover, and I came across this poem at Trinity College, Dublin at a wonderful time in my life.RH Who wrote itPD An unnamed Irish monk working in Germany in the 8th Century, but it wasnt discovered until 1820

I will keep watch beside you while you sleep

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:10:56 GMT

From an interview in the bookshop between Tracey Dobbs and Ric HoolTheres a collection of childrens poems that I cherish, called Rhymes for Annie Rose, by Shirley Hughes. My eldest son and I used to read these poems together, up to around his fifth or sixth birthday. He often fell asleep before the end of the book, but I would always finish the all the poems. The very last poem is a lullaby and if my memory serves me correctly, there is a line that saysI will keep watch beside you while you sleepMy son is now fourteen and I still keep watch. The book is a treasured part of my time with my son and also became a book of choice with my next son. The tradition continues as I have now loaned our copy to my nephew and the watching goes on.

Mid Morfudd

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:06:23 GMT

Interview between Jo (Bookshop owner) and Ric HoolJo It was that or something by James FentonRH My favourite Fenton is TiananmenJo Out of Danger is one of my favourite poetry collectionsRH Who else impresses youJo TS Elliot, Four Quartets Out at sea the down wind wrinkles and slidesRH I see you have readings in the shopJo Yes, the last event hosted Paul Henry, hes very good

I wandered lonely as a cloud

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:59:32 GMT

From a short interview in the bookshop by Ric Hool with browser Kelly FrostRHWhy that lineKFIve heard it so often and it makes the same picture in my mind. I feel warm when I read or say that line.

The Road Not Taken

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:54:19 GMT

Interview between Ric Hool and John Lovat in the bookshopRHWhat lines would you choose by another poetJLThat two roads thing by Robert FrostRHThe Road Not TakenJLYeah, thats it.RHWhat is it that grabs youJLIt yells of life! What you do at the time. The mystery of life. Theres temptation in this poem. Theres despair in this poem. Choices. Choices that might go against the grain. Yeah, it speaks to me

In The Beginning

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:44:54 GMT

Browser interviewed at the Abergavenny Book ShopJohn Lovat (actor, musician)J LIve been thinking about this rhythm, de de de dahJLIts musical, Biblical and Light like a Beat connection in Welsh

The Iceman

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:38:24 GMT

Independent book shop, helping local authors. The windows are always full of posters advertising poetry and other readings.Owner Brian Hughes QuoteOn a scorching July day Brian rustled through some books and chose,The Iceman by Ric Hool.Its such a hot day I need a cool poem, Iceman will do nicely, he said.

The Retreat

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:29:37 GMT

This poem was found in St Marys Priory Church on a grave stone during a school visit by Year 6 children from Ystruth Primary School.Henry Vaughan (16211695) was a Welsh Metaphysical poet and a doctor, the twin brother of the philosopher Thomas Vaughan.

The Lion and the Unicorn

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:18:44 GMT

The first line of this poem were discovered in the Church on the School visit by Year 6 Pupils from Ystruth Primary School, Blaina, Gwent

For Basil

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:17:14 GMT

Jeff would often stand, late afternoons and early evenings, leaning over the railings, door wide open, listening to good, rowdy blues music from Ma Rainey, Pinetop Smith, Muddy Waters and the like. If you were passing hed call you up for a drink and a chat, the music bleeding out onto the road and pavement below.Hed say, Listen to that!He wasnt drawing attention to what was on the play list but to urban noise coming off the streets, punctuating and mixing with what was being played.Jeffs poetry was often like that, a collage of sounds he was a jazzman.(Ric Hool)Work includesBomb CultureSelected PoemsPenguin Modern Poets 12

Where the Streets All Have Names

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:05:01 GMT

A Town Full of WordsYear 6 pupils from Ystruth Primary School, Blaina, Gwent collected words and phrases from the town centre of Abergavenny and wrote poems from them.We are surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of words in any town centre advertising words, instructions, directions, street names, business names so many words in so many sizes and in so many colours.

Soldiers

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:01:30 GMT

Abergavenny

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:57:49 GMT

SALE!

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:52:07 GMT

Analogue love

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:53:41 GMT

All my favourite lyrics are recorded on this tape but I havent got a working tape deck anymore so I just have to imagime what they sound like...

For the Shy

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:46:50 GMT

This is on the door in the mens cubicle of The (wonderful) Windmill music venue in South London. I dont really know what it means, it seems to be explaining why the door is there, which is funny. Only a place like that would inspire something so delightfully odd.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Be prepared

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:37:51 GMT

Sitting in the nook of the lovely Wild and Wood cafe on New Oxford Street I saw this sign. Luckily it was a Thursday.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

hop

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:31:42 GMT

I was walking around the beautiful Yorkshire Sculpture Park thinking about poetry in relation to the gardens, the landscape and the sculptures when I noticed a small greenhouse with flowerpots inside.This was a poetic installation called propogator by Alec Finlay. Each flowerpot is labelled with mesostic poems. Each mesostic has a namestem and word branches. Several plants were represented including dandelion and tansy, but here is hop.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Poetry Tea

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:30:11 GMT

This little poem is written by Markos, a young person from Snowsfields Adolescent Unit, in St Thomass Hospital. It came through a project called Operation Soapbox that I developed, which was about giving young people across the UK a soapbox to stand on an invitation to find creative ways to express what mattered most to them. The project involved so many different young people, all over the country, and everyone responded really differently to being given a soapbox. Some people planted a garden in theirs, some people stood on it and told their local councillor what they thought, some people created dance or performance pieces with theirs, or used it as raw material for a sculpture. The group at Snowsfields worked with a resident poet, Jared Louche and Apples and Snakes, to write poetry about how they felt, and then perform it, standing on the soapbox. Markoss poem also became this mug.It makes me feel wintry every time I use it.

a poet met in a drawer...

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:26:22 GMT

That was my Muji notepad. Its not the one I use for creative writing but I keep it take notes and jot down ideas. Ive been using these for a couple of years, my addiction to the Muji brand of notepads was sparked by Jacob Sam La Rose. Jacob is the writer known for inspiring a generation of young writers to invest in affordable, functional and stylish notepads. They really do the job. However, the only problem is my relationship to them. I hardly ever get to the end of one without losing it. I hope that most of them find good homes with people who will add them to their secret stash of found things like this one. The likelihood is that they end up in the gutter, soaked in puddles and binned by street sweepers. It sounds pretty depressing, right Well, just over a week ago my luck changed. I got the following email from a woman Id never met before.Hey YemisiI hope you dont mind me emailing you out of the blue but I was at Totleigh Barton this weekend and found your notebook in my bedroom drawer! It inspired me to write a poem so thank YOU! Being a curious sort of gal I decided to look up your blog, which is fab by the way. Would you like me to post your book back to youYours truly,Polly HallNow I had no idea which notepad I had lost and what Id written in it. I was excited about getting it back, but I was also really nervous about this woman thinking I was some kind of weirdo, a literary freak! I was really interested in Pollys poem too. But what if I had come over as a boring writer of shopping lists, badly thought out project ideas and random quotes Polly kindly sent the notepad back and emailed her poem to me. The poem arrived first. After the reading opening lines I knew exactly which notepad Polly had responded to. Reading the poem brought be back to the feeling I had when I first lost it. I remember being upset that my special Miles Davis idea had gone forever. So why did I blog about this Well, this story is about words and life, I guess thats the first qualifier. But also because my blog allowed Polly to get in touch with me. The blog brought the notepad home and has introduced me to Polly, who is a very cool poet. And here is her poem...

A girl with a curl

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:11:40 GMT

Tamsin my colleague told me about this poem, which her grandma used to say it to her when she was being naughty. It brought back memories for me as I have curly hair too, and this poem was always quoted at me too!

Edwin Morgan Nothing is Not Giving Messages

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:45:33 GMT

Nothing is Not Giving Messages is a poetic phrase taken from the prolific Scottish Poet and Glasgow Sonneteer Edwin Morgan. The line appears on the SPL wall in celebration of the Edwin Morgan Archive which is housed in their building. The line reminds me that there is little or nothing that we do which does not send a message. Even doing nothing gives a message. But, to me, the beautiful thing about this line is that anyone can read into it what they wish. For more information on Edwin Morgan and to sample his poems check http//www.edwinmorgan.spl.org.uk/index.htmlPhrase taken from an interview with Robert Crawford in Edwin Morgan Nothing Not Giving Messages reflections on work and life, edited by Hamish Whyte (Polygon, 1990)

Lost Poster or Poem

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:42:15 GMT

So, I found this poster in London the other day. It reminded me of a kind of Richard Brautigan http//www.poemhunter.com/richardbrautigan poetry which Ive always liked. Poems so simple they dont even really feel like poems. The kind that read a little like a cheap newspaper ad or, indeed, a clever poster like I Feel Horrible. She Doesnt I feel horrible. She doesntlove me and I wander aroundlike a sewing machinethats just finished sewinga turd to a garbage can lid.

Gorton Girls in St Anns Square

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:04:04 GMT

Ive just come back from the Manchester Book Market in St Anns Square. It was typically chucking it down with rain, but that didnt deter hardy poets and avid readers from congregating round the stalls and open air stage to catch some of the citys best wordsmiths in action. Amongst the stalls I found Mike Garry brandishing framed prints of this now legendary line from his epic poem Mancunian Meander you used to be able to photograph it yourself outside The Britons Protection but alas its now disappeared from public view. Ive heard Mike perform the poem in numerous venues across the city over the past couple of years this line never fails to raise a smile.

Lemn Sissay Flags

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:01:22 GMT

Lemn Sissay is one of Manchesters favourite sons when it comes to poetry (even if he does live in London these days!). Luckily hes left little bits of his big heart all over the city, including the wall of Hardys Well pub on Wilmslow Road and the concrete poem Rain above the Gemini Take Away near Contact theatre, but my favourite one is Flags laid out in a beautiful mosaic along Tib Street in The Northern Quarter. Its been there a few years now so some of the stonework has started to erode under all the passing feet, but you can still make out the stirring verses that pay tribute to Manchesters industrial heritage.I often walk around this part of town, head down worrying about some work problem, then Ill suddenly eyeball a line of Lemns poem and feel rejuvenated ready to face the next challenge the world has to throw at me. I like to think that this poem is slowly sinking beneath Manchesters skin the words will still resonate long after they decide to dig up the street to lay a new water pipe or something.

Ode to Traffic Wardens

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:59:26 GMT

I spotted this cheeky little ode to Traffic Wardens on my way to MARC the printers. Its near impossible to park in city centre Manchester without getting a ticket slapped on your windshield. I really like the fact that this piece of graffiti isnt just a typical rant against traffic wardens but actually presents them as quite lovable rogues children in fact!

Graffiti on the Rainbow, 1990s

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:54:53 GMT

I used to pass the Rainbow most days on the bus to school and I really liked this graffiti being there. The bit about being led by fools who waste our lives (not in the picture for some reason) was sometimes how I felt about school so was good to see painted huge on this weird grim wall with the dead dog and the window bars. When the buliding was taken over by the UCKG church the graffiti disappeared.(it also used to say WE ARE LED BY FOOLS WHO WASTE OUR LIVES and trailing off downwards a bit, BE YOUR OWN LEADER YOU FEEBLE JERK)

OUR UNITY (2)

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:40:23 GMT

OUR UNITY (1)

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:36:40 GMT

So much has been happening in my country in the past eight years, so much has been lost, blood shed, people made homeless, all for political expediency. When are we going to get out of it We need to, NOW!Both paintings housed in National Gallery in Bulawayo in the FROM CONFRONTATION TO RECONCILIATION ART EXHIBITION.THEY ARE COMINGGogo watches in fearthrough a rent in the curtainas the kids boil down the street a minute ago a terrified woman ran pastbleeding and dress tornyelling THEY ARE COMING!in an instant the streets were emptynot even a windonly the yelling kidscadres of national sovereignityweilding dreadin upraised little fistsas that man on their tshirtsshe fears for her only sonpain cramps her stomachshe told him not to go and the day he wenthe told her she will seehe is leading the toyi toyi towards her homesweating faces setteeth baredfeet pumping

I Must Try Harder

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:21:45 GMT

A personal poemReturning from Beirut, Im reminded why I wanted to tell factual stories.But I should try harder.I recall in 92 how driven by idealism I made my way to South Africa, looking for the next generation.And knew then I should try harder.There as with Beirut, a state was shaking of the yoke of its perceived image, pleading for the documentariststo try harder.To see past the news, the simplified mimetic discourse which feeds a cycle of recycled news.Thats why we should try harder.For invariably, in all communities, states, our minds ferment more complex thoughts which require the light of day.To show just how hard we are trying.And in many cases its been driven by the young, the successor generation,who are trying really hard.Their endeavors often go unnoticed, their voice drowned by three letter acronyms of news internationalists.Are THEY really trying hardIt is not the job of news, the argument goes, to tell anything other than that of news value.But try this hard description for size then.What is newsVideographers, artists, bloggers, photojos, journalists, designers have within their reach the potential to show how THEIR view can turn yours on its axis.Hard. Try. Try. Hard. Though I might add not through propaganda.What is art is a perennial question That which challenges us unlike no other to perceive beyond our station, to reprocess ingrained thoughts.And thats why it matters.Returning from Beirut Ive rekindled the flame of why story telling keeps me awake.Because the more we try, the easier it gets.And the more easier it gets, the more we should most definitely try harder.I sat down and brain dumped the above this morning, digitising footage for which I plan to make a short film from Beirut. Sadly, I hadnt planned any story or interviews, so really havent done myself justice ( I was here for other, specific, reasons looking at the work of other VJS)But in any case, I figure Id like to go back soon and in this case I should try harder.

Views of Edo (2009)

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:59:52 GMT

Having relocated to Tokyo a year and a half ago, I took this opportunity to write a poem local style. Describing my thoughts on a haiku, however briefly, feels a bit longwinded, especially when the form itself is so economic and efficient. The poem describes a side of suburban Tokyo which is rarely considered, away from all the flashing lights which attract the most attention. The title is in homage to the ukiyoe artist Hiroshige Utagawa.

Ode to Steffen

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:11:20 GMT

Written on a tree at Southbank Centre...

Dreaming with Graham by Paul Juckes

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:21:59 GMT

My Dad was a Civil Servant, teaching Spanish at the Foreign office in London, until he retired about 6 years ago. He used to visit the Poetry Library on the South Bank on a regular basis, and often wrote poems on the train, on his daily commute from Gravesend into Charing Cross. Hes now happily retired and living in a small Spanish village near the Pyrenees. This is what he says about his poemYes, its true, most of my poems are about death. This poems a good example of that. Grahams poem is about dreaming that he sees his dead Dad, but, as he did in life, his Dad remains silent. Its a very poignant poem, and Grahams experience is rather different from my own. I decided to extend the theme to dreaming of ones own death as well as being visited in dreams by the dead. No artistic licence here its all true.

Reflexology in a cubicle in the mens toilets in Charing Cross Station.

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:39:17 GMT

This sign in a cubicle in the mens toilets in Charing Cross Station. Prompted by eye I created more similar texts using words or sounds from reflexology points in the right hand.ear Gladlypositionbehindthis panelLong Lungpositionbehindthis panelshoulder posit bethis panellive liverposppanelsolar plexusoninanelMy kindnidneySt omachsts paRodding thodthneck LongposhidisheadingposinghidinglingSpying eyemisshindhisBadder lotpothotnotInterest inpositallscolon ampanaanoise snnnRogering gananenInpointposterthis panelmy poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Forgetfulness Billy Collins Animated Poetry

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:11:55 GMT

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of Americas bestselling poets, reads his poem Forgetfulness with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear. Strangely sums up the gradual decline of my memory bank...

Some girls are bigger than others

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:01:17 GMT

One of the best Smiths songs I think and who could deny Morrissey is the poet champion of teenage angst I know I spent most of my 15th year in Stoke moshing around my bedroom with my headphones on and reciting this along with other Smiths verses.

Sung in Silence

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:46:58 GMT

This is a JapaneseScottish garden the path is made of recycled slate hothouse benches, and the poem is inscribed on separate slates so phrases can be read singly or put together by the reader. Its a little contemplative area in a civic space. The gardens first and so far, only poet in residence, Gerry Loose, got this project underway, and later we collaborated in putting together a book (Ten Seasons explorations in Botanics) sampling some of the wonderful poetic activities that took place in the garden during his residency, with glorious photographs by Morven Gregor. The garden is very near where I live, and reminds me that even in the urban bustle there are spaces for poetry.

Cleanliness is next to godliness

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:46:36 GMT

Found this rather damning sentiment on a derelict church door in Deptford but is it poetry

red sign

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:35:10 GMT

These shops arent real, are they Crusting pipe Pink Lizard They look like a surrealist poem, all laid out together.

because life is too short

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:28:40 GMT

OK so this is an advertisement, but I like the way the poster is a little poem, and I liked the caf, a little homemade island in a high street of caf neros and starbucks

Edith Cavell statue

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:26:01 GMT

This statue is of Edith Cavell, who was a British nurse and humanitarian, who is celebrated for helping about 200 Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium during the First World War. She was caught and executed, subsequently becoming famous for her actions and the quote on the bottom of this statue. Apparently the monument has a regular vigil for peace on the first Wednesday of every month, by women dressed in black. Theres something very powerful about those few lines that she said poetry

Small Waxy Potatoes

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:22:33 GMT

I love the way a good recipe reads like a poem, with the cook so in love with food they cant help but write little love poems to how good fried potatoes will taste. This one is Nigel Slater.

Could come in handy.

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:41:11 GMT

This also made me laugh out loud. Poetry as vandalism Who knows.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

Freedom of the Statement

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:38:56 GMT

I cant help but think there is more to say here.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

Looks familiar.

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:37:25 GMT

Swansea gets its fair share of Banksy fans. This is one of my favourites, for the largely indecipherable, but still interesting tags underneath it.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

Looks familiar.

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:34:15 GMT

Hot Beats here.

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Until it closed, this chippie was known for showing rap/r b videos and the men behind the counter could regularly be seen dancing. Someone with a spray can decided to share their affection. I dont think anyone knows the places real name.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

Tell me something. . .

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:29:53 GMT

Selfexplanatory. Honest. Heartbreaking.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

Meet Here For Fun

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:26:09 GMT

You cant see it, but the phone says its 7.15.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

Rappers

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:23:57 GMT

Never fail to represent.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

Graffiti is ALL our problem.

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:15:57 GMT

I literally laughed out loud when I saw this.Found during a graffiti walk led by the Dylan Thomas Centre, June 2009

SE1 8XX

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:30:08 GMT

A Word Album of the London Literature Festival 2009

shop sign

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:45:28 GMT

When I saw this shop sign I said those words are in the wrong order. The next day, I remembered the words, but not the order. Here are 24 possibilities, any one of which might be the sign.This inspired a whole digital project which can be found here http//personal.rhul.ac.uk/msle/138/foodbuystopwell/intro.htmlUsing (rapidly advancing!) online technology, I have found the actual shop, as shown in the thumbnail to this post. In sort of breaks the mystery, but its also kind of a relief.My Poetic Practice Journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Do not let

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:54:14 GMT

I saw this written on a revolving advertisment board in a bus shelter by London Bridge Tube. I took several photos of the same text, each with a different background as the ads shifted behind it. Ive chosen to show this one as I think it works best with the text. If you look closely you can see the bus stop and the road reflected in the picture.The full set herehttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/2009/07/donotletyrlifebleedaway.html

FROLIC AV

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:59:34 GMT

Saw this poem on the side of a ladder that was leaning against a wall backstage at the club night Bugged Out (I had been working on the door.) It seemed to me like a kind of mysterious instruction!Couldnt find it exactly on the map but its somewhere round there.my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/my poetic practice journalhttp//poeticpracticejournal.blogspot.com/

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:40:33 GMT

Children playing their part in a breathtaking outdoor, musical performance of Coleridges classic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. http//litandspoken.southbankcentre.co.uk/category/ancientmariner/

Choose what you read

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:04:34 GMT

An event for Choose What you Read in Proud Galleries, Camden after a North London minimonsoon. An experiment in Recycling/Procedure/Performance using free papers and books conducted by Karen Sandhu, Ryan Ormonde and Becky Cremin of press free press led to this text displayed on the wall.http//www.choosewhatyouread.com/More images of this on press free press websitehttp//pressfreepress.blogspot.com/