The Poet's Journal
Notes from John's diary, with selected images from his many travels.
Poetry Posters in the Subway
As part of the Poet-in-Residence project, SPT has been displaying my poems alongside the large format adverts in all the Subway stations. Over the past 18 months we have shown both comic poems and thoughtful poems, beautifully illustrated by SPT designers Louise Craig and James Muirhead who have added their own creativity to this popular element of the Residency.
Children loved the popular Shooglin' Aboot Unner the Grun and the Hallowe'en poem The Subway Witches. School kids enjoyed the poem which was displayed during our severe winter entitled Fanfare for the Common Cold. Adults wrote in to say how much they enjoyed the poem and photograph that combined to make the poetry poster About a Boat and many people thought the contemplative poem New Year's Day Song a reflective way to start this year.
However, it was the St Valentine's poem On Vatersay Beach that really appealed to many Subway passengers. I wrote the poem for my wife when we were having a short holiday in Barra, a place that has become a favourite destination for our family. That week we had beautiful weather and we spent the week in the most luxurious surroundings in the Old School House in Vatersay. I remembered visiting this building many years ago when it was a museum but now it is a stunningly comfortable self-catering home. I wrote the poem in that house and I'm pleased to say my wife loves the poem, and as it was written especially for her, that's enough to make me proud of the poem (not that I'm bigheaded or anything!)
When On Vatersay Beach was displayed in the Subway in February, we received several requests from passengers for copies of the poem - it had certainly caught people's attention and their admiration.
One particular request came from David Morris: he asked if he could have a copy because he was to be married to his fiance Lindsay at the end of May 2010. He also asked permission for the poem to be read at their wedding. Naturally I was thrilled to receive such a request and even more delighted to oblige. We replied saying we would arrange for a printed version to be sent to him. David asked if I could dedicate and sign the poster as he and Lindsay were considering framing the poster for their future home.
Once the poster was printed I met up with David in the coffee shop next to the SPT offices. I brought him a signed copy of On Vatersay Beach and a couple of other SPT poetry posters. It was then that the full story emerged!
David works in Edinburgh. He travels there every day from his home in south Glasgow. He takes the Subway from West Street station into the city centre to catch the shuttle train to Edinburgh. One morning just before St Valentine's Day he spotted the poem poster and read the first line: 'This could be it.'
The line caught him by surprise, 'Yes,' he thought, reflecting on his forthcoming wedding, 'This could be it.' Somewhere deep inside the poem began to work the kind of magic only a poem can.
David started copying down the first few lines... but then his train arrived. He vowed to catch up with it next day and write down the entire poem. The next day came and once again he tried to jot down some of the lines but it's not an easy thing to do when your train is hurtling and parping into the station!
'Definitely catch it tomorrow,' he determined. Next day came... out comes the pencil and notebook... but no poetry poster, it had been replaced with a Jack Daniels advert! (This tends to be the fate of many poems... and poets!) David was disconsolate. What next? Write to SPT, they're a fine bunch and they'll send me the words of that poem.
And that, dear readers, is how the poem On Vatersay Beach became something of a Hobbit-like quest for David Morris.
He and Lindsay now have some kind of 'share' in that love poem... my wife Clare cherishes the fact that her poem can be shared and valued by other people who are in love. And the poet? Well, not only am I rewarded by the fact that Clare loves her poem but also because I strive to allow my poems to speak directly to other people - and it certainly appears that I've been successful, this time at least. And there is a further element to this story - thanks to the good offices of SPT who fund the Poet-in-Residence project (along with Scottish Arts Council) and publish my poems in the Subway, that poem would not have been shared with Glasgow's travelling public... and I would never have been able to give Lindsay and David a wedding present which, they assure me, will last them a lifetime.
Join with me in wishing Lindsay and David a very Happy Wedding at the end of May.
John Rice
You can download printable versions of some of the Subway poetry posters by clicking on the following links. All the posters are in pdf format and open in a new browser window.
Shooglin' Aboot Unner the Grun (487kb)
Fanfare for the Common Cold (2Mb)
Previous Entries
Living in Unfamiliar Territory - A personal view of Robert Burns
The Poet draws an 'Atlantic Arc' (Part One)
The Poet draws an 'Atlantic Arc' (Part Two)
Travellers get a winter Ode in the Nose
The Cold Poet in the Warm Cafe
