posted by Michele
How do you make poems go places? Stick them up on billboards all over the country and (for good measure) in Nashville, Tennessee.
An initiative by poster company Phantom Billstickers puts poems by New Zealand and American poets on the streets as A1 posters. The first four posters were launched in Auckland 2 June by Tusiata Avia, James Milne (aka Lawrence Arabia) and Michele Leggott, who pasted the first copies of Tusiata’s poem ‘Cheek’ and James' 'The Kinds of Feelings that Happen on Summer Beaches' on a Phantom Billstickers site opposite Britomart in the CBD. Readings of both poems were improvised and there were poems and songs from the pavement by Michele Leggott, David Eggleton, Lisa Samuels, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Kelly Malone, John Adams, Tricia Hall, Otis Mace and others. Appreciative students from Poetry off the Page and the Masters of Creative Writing at the University of Auckland, and other audience members were then treated to kebabs on the pavement, courtesy of the Phanotms.
The posters will go up in 13 New Zealand cities and in Nashville, Tennessee, where the company is also active. The poems will change monthly and the project will run for six months. Phantoms Jamey Holloway and Jim Wilson are looking to promote emerging talent and say they will consider short poems emailed to poems@0800phantom.co.nz
Check out the June 2009 posters on nzepc.
Watch Poem Posters to the World video.
Images
Tusiata Avia’s poster poem ‘Cheek’ and James Milne’s ‘The Kinds of Feelings that Happen on Summer Beaches from nzepc
No comments:
Post a Comment