Global Poetry System: Covering the World and ‘Rewriting’ Histories

Posted on May 25, 2010 by sophiegps

Global Poetry System now has uploads in every continent, spanning 35 countries and in several different languages. Thank you to everyone who has uploaded, and for continuing to spread the word. Due to the incredible number of uploads there are now shiny new pins on the GPS map to indicate clusters of poems, with 242 uploads in London alone.

Sea shanties or graffiti, haikus or tattoos: whatever kinds of poems you’re interested in it’s now simple to find them on the GPS website. The sparkly new search function allows you to locate exactly what you’re looking for, or discover a poem about something completely random, like unicorns or mashed potato.

You’ll now also find a commenting box next to every GPS poem, so you can let the world know what you think about it. Which are your favourite poems, and why? Connect with other GPS users and give them feedback, as well as adding any inside info you might have about the uploads in your area.

In other news, participants ‘rewrote’ history in a Global Poetry System workshop last week. The local history section was raided at Twickenham Library, and text was transformed from the factual and formal into poetic flights of fancy, simply by rearranging the words.

The result was a range of unique hybrid poems inspired by the local area. You can view the poems on the GPS website.

Why not try the workshop yourself, and share your creations with the rest of the world? Here is a step by step guide on how it’s done:

1. Select a local history book that interests you

2.Open it at a random page

3.Photocopy the page, enlarging it to A3 size

4. Cut out the individual words or phrases

5. Rearrange and play around with the words or phrases, using as much or as little of the whole text as you wish

6. When you are happy with your poetic creation, stick the words down onto paper, writing in any extra words that you would like to include

7. Enjoy and share your poem

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry. Explore the map and upload poems here.

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COMING SOON, A SLICE OF BRAZIL ON THE SOUTHBANK

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Trish Thomas

Bringing the vibrant, dynamic culture of contemporary Brazil to the heart of London, Festival Brazil at Southbank Centre will celebrate the country’s rich cultural heritage – including music, visual arts, dance, literature, debates and food.

Brazil’s most evocative writers and poets will also form the heart of 2010′s London Literature Festival. Plus two ground-breaking Hayward Gallery exhibitions, featuring some of today’s most exciting international artists, challenge our expectations of art, sculpture and design. And look out for the many free performances that take over the Southbank Centre site during

And look out for the many free performances that take over the Southbank Centre site during the Festival.

View all Festival Brazil events here

Check out the Festival Brazil vid for a taster of what’s to come…

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Certificates of Readership

Posted on May 12, 2010 by CHRISSYPL

There’s a new exhibition at the Poetry Library that draws on the borrowing lives of books in the Library’s collection – and you can take some of it home with you.

Artist Sara MacKillop has created a series of certificates that chart the borrowing history of twelve of the Poetry Library’s books, giving us visual interpretations of each book’s lending lifespan. By highlighting the visual markers that occur in the lending process, MacKillop’s exhibition explores new narratives that appreciate over time and are etched into every book.

As well as being able to view framed copies of the certificates on the walls of the Poetry Library, a limited number of free prints have also been made available for people who borrow any of the twelve books involved in the exhibition. This emphasises the link between poet and reader that the Library safeguards, and invites us to discover the poetry of the Library itself.

The exhibition has been curated by Richard Parry of the Hayward Gallery and will run until 15th August 2010. There is more information about the exhibition and the Poetry Library here.

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Space As Place, Place As Idea

Posted on May 11, 2010 by chrisgps

“I became aware of place in two ways: Place as place in the sense of a specific geographical physical manifestation, and place as suggestive of abstract ideas and notions- which is not to say place as a space on a map, that is something else, I don’t think that really creeps into poetry. But place can creep into poetry as an abstract notion.”

Tabish Khair

In our recent interviews with Tabish Khair and Jeet Thayil, we were treated to two fascinating conversations about the relationship between place and poetry. Central to both discussions was the premise that, for both writers, place was clearly more than a physical location on a map. Four walls and a roof may be described as both a “house” and a “home”, but in the latter description those four walls and roof take on many extra levels of meaning. Equally, India is a country bordering Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Burma; but “India” also represents an ideology, a culture, and, perhaps most importantly, a home.

Jeet Thayil also discusses “The city that you live in in your head”, implying place can be thought about as a set of ideas, rather than just a geographical location. And this isn’t a school of thought unique to poetry. Who after all, can watch the landscapes of America portrayed in the 1969 film Easy Rider, without connecting them to the idealised freedoms of the “American Dream”? Or more recently, in her 2010 album Have One On Me, Joanna Newsom sees place as inseparable from emotion, and indeed, inseparable from herself: ‘but if you come and see me, in California,/ you cross the border of my heart.’

In fact, the more you think about it, the more places become emotions and ideas, and less geographical locations marked by maps.

As Tabish indicates, place can inspire poetry, but on Global Poetry System, we’ve also found plenty of examples of poetry inspiring place. It’s even turning up on neurotic rocks:

Keep your eyes peeled and see what poetry you can find on the places near you. Or perhaps try writing your own poem about a place that means something to you. Whatever you do, remember to upload it to the Global Poetry System website afterwards so the world can enjoy it.

Joanna Newsom is performing at Southbank Centre on the 11th and 12th of May, and works by both Tabish Khair and Jeet Thayil  can be found in the Poetry Library here at Southbank Centre.

Global Poetry System is a user-generated world map of poetry. Upload poems and explore the map here.

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Countries of the Mind, Countries of the Body

Posted on May 11, 2010 by sophiegps

‘The poem, as a journey, takes shape over an imagined or remembered landscape’

During Alchemy’s Contemporary Indian Poetry event the audience were taken on a journey through countryside and concrete, contemplation and comedy. We took scenic paths through the realms of traditional form with Karthika Nair, and dived into dramatic performance with Tabish Khair. We encountered unexpected animals with Jeet Thayil, before ending up on the surprising seas of an explicit rap.

Jeet, poet and editor of the Contemporary Indian Poetry Anthology which was central to the event, described how the collection is void of many of the stereotypes associated with India, and is truly an international collection drawing on a myriad of themes and diverse experiences. Throughout the readings the originality and individuality of each poet was clear. Highlights included the delicate power of Tishani Doshi’s extracts from her collection Countries of the Body, and  Jeet’s series of instructional poems including such literary quirks as ‘How to be a Horse’.

Global Poetry System caught up with Karthika for an insightful interview, in which she explained how the poems in her collection Meridians are shaped by their international title locations, and by her Indian upbringing.   

Karthika has travelled and lived in India, China, France and the USA.   But how, if at all, do these countries inhabit her poetry, and in what ways does she construct their distinct landscapes with her choices of form and language?

You can find the Contemporary Indian Poetry Anthology in the Poetry Library here at Southbank Centre, along with collections by all of the poets who performed in the event.

Take us on your own poetic journey by uploading to our user-generated world map of poetry, Global Poetry System.  Explore the map here.

Filed under: Alchemy 2010, Global Poetry System, Misc | Leave a Comment »

POETRY MEETS SCIENCE

Posted on May 6, 2010 by CHRISSYPL

Poetry Science diagram
The Poetry Library is running free workshops for Science and English teachers to explore the connections between science and poetry. Teachers will be able to build activities to inspire learning in their own students and the sessions will be led by acclaimed writer and scientist Mario Petrucci. This event will be part of Southbank Centre’s Festival of Science and Arts celebrating 350 years of the Royal Society.

Speaking at a “Poetry and Science” event, Mario Petrucci talked about the connections between the two areas saying: “Science is as much to do with understanding ourselves as literature is and vice versa. I suppose what they have to offer each other … is the attention they both give to what is already known and the desire to search beyond that to what isn’t known. I think poetry and science share that.” With 12 books of poetry published and a PhD in Optoelectronics, Mario Petrucci’s unique perspective will help participants develop creativity between these two areas, providing tools and activities to take back to the classroom.

Places are limited but the project is free and participants will have their work showcased in a high profile event at the Royal Festival Hall. All teachers of English and Science are invited to join in the sessions at the Poetry Library, Southbank Centre on the following dates:

10 May at 5pm
20 May at 5pm
7 June at 5pm
14 June at 5pm
21 June at 5pm

If you wish to attend some or all of these sessions then please contact Miriam Valencia asap on miriam.valencia@southbankcentre.co.uk or +44 (0)20 7921 0943.

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The Analogue Adventures Begin

Posted on May 4, 2010 by sophiegps

News of Global Poetry System’s Analogue Adventures project has spread far and wide. A big thank you to everyone who offered to participate; we have had camera requests from across the globe. The cameras have now been sent out to their first homes in locations from Ripon to Russia. Each new recipient of a camera will be capturing an image of poetry on their local landscape and then passing the camera on to a person of their choosing within a 48 hour time frame. We can’t wait for the cameras to return back to Southbank Centre, when we will be posting the surprise images online for all to see. If you have received a camera then you can update everyone on its location on the discussion board of our Facebook fan page. This is also a place for anyone who is following the project to find out more.

In other news: Thanks to feedback and suggestions by visitors to the GPS website it is now possible to comment on poems. Which images do you find particularly inspiring, or do you know a little bit more about? Now you can let people know by using the commenting function.

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry. Upload poems and explore the map here.

Filed under: Global Poetry System, Misc | 2 Comments »

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