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Agüimes, BBC Radio 4, Gran Canaria, Jo Bell, Joaquin Artiles, Lemn Sissay, poetry in unexpected places, public poetry, Simon Armitage, Tony Maude
El Romance de Agüimes by Joaquin Artiles
On Saturday night I heard a radio programme about Landscape Poetics (this link is live for 28 days as I type; it may or may not work outside the UK) in which Lemn Sissay and guests including Simon Armitage and Jo Bell discussed the increasing prevalence of poetry in public spaces. From Transport for London’s Poems on the Underground initiative which was launched in 1986, to the Locklines project on England’s canal system, from Simon Armitage’s Stanza Stones poems to the back of buses (no really, I saw a rhyming couplet on the back of a bus just yesterday morning while I was driving; I think it was advertising a legal firm, but I’m not sure), it seems that poems are being published everywhere.
And it’s not just in the UK either. I took the photo above in the small town of Agüimes while on holiday in Gran Canaria in 2014. Now, with the best will in the world, whilst it is a pleasant town, Agüimes is hardly likely to feature on many tourists’ holiday itineraries, which means that most people who visit Gran Canaria have no idea about this poem or the others that feature across the town. (I can’t even remember why we decided to go there, although I do remember a very good lunch at a cafe in one of the town’s squares.)
Here at dVerse we have a community spread literally across the whole world, which means that we could draw attention to public poetry installations near us that other members of our community might never get to see. So let me ask, is there poetry in public spaces in the town or city where you live? Or have you stumbled across a poem, or even a line from a poem, somewhere where you would never have expected to find it? Please use the comments to tell us about public poetry where you live/work/have been on holiday – especially if you can direct us to a picture of the work for us to enjoy … smiles.
Thanks for joining in,
Tony
dVerse 
Greetings poets. It’s been a beautiful sunnt day here in Scotland. The sun is just starting to set, so now is a good time to open the pub … smiles
This is a wonderful idea, Tony. It made me think of those flash mobs with symphonies or opera. Why not poetry?
Seriously, I’m sure there’s poetry placed in public spaces all over the US …
Hi Tony! Immediately on reading your post, I thought of Pike’s Peak, Colorado (my home state). Katharine Bates, poet and professor, wrote “America the Beautiful” upon visiting the impressive mountain and her poem (song) is displayed at the summit. I found a photo of it on the following blog:
http://grandmajjb.blogspot.com/2014/07/627-pikes-peak-cog-railway.html
I knew about the cog railway, but I didn’t know about the poem at the top! Thanks for sharing Lynn … smiles
I haven’t seen a stitch of poetry here around Warren, Michigan… come to think of it: I have some poetry bombs from a friend’s small press I need to place around my neighborhood.
One of the contributors in the radio show I talked about got started by poetry-bombing his neighbourhood in London …. smiles
Just don’t tell anyone I said to do it ….
ohh…. hmm. I’m gonna put your name and email on the back of each so they’ll know who to blame then. haha
I’m safe … they’ll never try to extradite me for that 😉
Not much poetry to be seen in Chicagoland. There’s room for it.
That leads to the question, where is poetry inappropriate – and I
it works almost anywhere.
We’ve visited Yellowstone National Park many times, and though I don’t recalls seeing poetry there, a web search showed a visitor who wrote poems when he signed the guest books of the lodges there.
I may try that next time.
I’m really surprised … you’d think there’d be plenty of room for poetry to feature as part of the built-up landscape of Chicago ….
And as for Yellowstone … that place must have inspired loads of poets. Couldn’t some of the best poems be featured on information boards?
yes, that place inspires art of many kinds.
I’m thinking of the Grand Canyon as another awe-inspiring place…
yes, that’s a good one too. Muir Woods is very inspirational too.
Apparently, there was a call to post a William Stafford poem in a small plot of land across the street from where he lived in my home town of Lake Oswego, Oregon. Here’s the article about the City Council meeting about the idea: http://koin.com/2014/04/30/poet-inspired-park-suggested-lake-oswego-plot/
I don’t know what ever came of this. I guess I’ll have to take the dog for a walk up that way soon and see what became of the plot and if the poem is there. Peace, Linda
IT’d be good to know that this happened. I’m beginning to sense a really different attitude to this on opposite sides of the Atlantic. I wonder why that might be?
A couple of years ago the public gardens in our nearest town, Coutances – which has a different theme each year, did the fables of Aesop (Lafontaine) with poems, sculptures and pictures in each bed. The Parc Florale de Haute Bretagne near Fougeres is divided into many different styles of garden, each dedicated to a poet or writer, with poems on stakes at the entrance to earech element.
An obvious place to find public poems is in cemeteries – if that’s not too macabre. The poetry is usually pretty bad, and sometimes unintentionally humorous.
The accidentally humorous nature of some graveyard poetry is something I’ve seen picked up on deliberately at a Wild West show town on Gran Canaria.
The Aesop’s Fables sounds good – and you’ve raised the point that public space poetry installations don’t have to be permanent. Thanks Viv.
Come to think of it, there’s a poem on the back wall of the reception area of Broadcasting House. It begins “Nations shall speak peace unto nations…” – I wish they would.
Echoing that wish, Viv. It was the BBC’s first motto derived (it is claimed) from Micah 4:3 “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.” The same words are found in Isaiah 2:4. In Matthew 24:7 Jesus subverts this vision of ultimate peace, warning that it will be preceded by ongoing conflict – Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Here endeth the theology lesson … smiles
i’m not much one for formal poetry but truly the poetry of human heart/soul expressing as spirit flies free IS wherever humans with heArt exist.
I’ve found the most meaningful poetically expressing sentiments in graffiti in the stalls of bathrooms, per what even the nature of human is…
And then there’s dance where the classically training ballet dancer does great in the contest until the ‘MIND’ cannot keep up with the bodies that just flow in the D.J.’s choice of song that is never practicing… with rational thought.. driving legs of movement…
ART flows in just letting it go…
Anything else is mostly science to me.. and ‘God Knows and FEELS’ in a mechanical cognition world increasingly gaining advantage, as a real life Zombie Apocalypse of heart/soul, and the expression of the emotion of spirit no longer, AS free;
Systemizing Science of mind, is almost now, like an enemy for me, which literally almost kills me in ways of mind and body BALANCING heart/soul AND expressing spirit OF EMOTION for sure, before in life..:)
To quote the great Rock Band ‘Rush’, the words of the prophets are ‘written on the studio halls, concert halls’…
And bathroom stalls too, per my recognition of.. truth and light….in action of human expression of emotional spirit.. in all the ways that can and will come now, AS, AND FOR FREE..:)
One of the points amde in the radio show I heard was that putting peotry into public spaces takes it away from a (self)-protecting elite and puts into the hands of non-experts, many of whom don’t/won’t read poetry in any other context. Bathroom wall graffiti is a classic case in point.
Yes, and additionally, truly ‘Rap’ is more or less free verse poetry set FREER IN MODERN MUSIC to express cultural feelings of heart/soul; and I’ve always been sickened to hear so-called ‘high brow folks’ denigrating it as something not intelligent.. or so-called LESSER avenues.. of ‘below art’.. as it ‘were’….
But of course ‘they’ ‘feel’ not what ‘they’ do…
As is the HUMAN tribal instinct to begin with.. i guess..
SMILES..:)
Thanks goodness we NOW live in a ‘google blogger and YouTube world’.. wHere freedom of expression now rules the ‘rules’ of ‘others’.. gaining progress at least.. in that area of the cultural heart/soul.. and spirit of human beings… more freely alive and expressed in all the diverse WAYS that can and will come with humans.. when set.. more fully free..:)
Otherwise, literally 10 million words will never exist for me, without that avenue and potential all free market of one global free world IN freedom of expression..:)
whEre diversity truly rules the heart/souls and spirit of human BEING FREE..:)
Here in Tacoma, WA, like in Florida, banger tags in alleys, on trains, under bridges, represent most of the public poetics. Last year, the poet laureate of Tacoma, put out a call for local poets to write poems specifically about Tacoma; about 60 of us responded. He taped recitations, then later the city of Tacoma put up a civic web site in honor of the Laureate Listening Project. There was a map of Tacoma, our pics, & click on them to hear the poems; that was cool.
Cool indeed Glenn … smiles
OK, it’s late on the eastern Atlantic shore, so I’m heading off for some much needed beauty sleep. Keep the conversation flowing folks … and don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Poetics … smiles
Interesting topic! In Port Alberni,B.C., (Canada), there is a cool old church converted into a social gathering place for the arts community. The last Thursday evening of each month there is a Words On Fire event where locals are welcome to share their work. I have read there a few times. They also bring in writers from nearby areas, for book launches and other literary events. It is pretty nice to have such a venue in a small town that has many challenges. There is also a huge event every summer at one of our heritage sites, the McLeans Mill (where they logged by hand back in the day – the buildings and equipment are all still there). It is called Forest Fest, and local writers take part in that as well.
p.s. In Vancouver, BC, for a time they posted poems by local poets on the advertising area inside busses, so passengers could read the poems while they were commuting,. That was pretty cool. Our CBC Radio station is very supportive of writers, poets, and musicians across Canada, as they feature them on radio all the time, interview writers, and also read submissions from regular folk across Canada. I love how full of Canadian content CBC Radio is.
Hi Tony–this is a lovely concept. Wish I had more to contribute…maybe next time.
I’ve seen poetry all over Ireland while visiting there. Poems are posted on pub walls, there’s a pub in Dublin named The Poet’s Corner, lines of poems are over doorways, scrawled on billboards. In areas that preserve traditional music, time is given to the singing acapella of old songs and to the recitation of poems. Writers and poets are revered and children are encouraged to memorize poems. Also, in London, I saw verses of poems posted on the advertising spaces above the seats on the train. Lovely.