18Oct 2020 by Rogan Wolf

“Modern Poetry in Translation” and “The Reader”

poems for display in schools, Poems for the NHS, Poems for...one world, Poems for...the waiting room, public poetry
"Poems for the wall" has began some collaborative work with two organisations : "Modern Poetry in Translation" and "The Reader." On the face of it, these organisations, or projects, are quite different. But they have in common a belief in, and a commitment to, honest words of high quality and integrity, true witness, in whatever language and whatever form ; and to a need for those words to reach out to people far and wide and find them where they are. It is unclear, as yet, quite where this exploratory work will go. So far, it has brought the material available on this site to the attention of the large numbers of people in The Reader's "constituency" ; and has resulted in an agreement with Clare Pollard of MPT that…
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18Dec 2018 by Rogan Wolf

Poems Displayed on Plasma Screens

poems for display in schools, Poems for the NHS, Poems for...one world, Poems for...the waiting room, public poetry, Uncategorized
The plasma display screen is now common in all kinds of public settings, including schools, libraries and healthcare waiting rooms. So here is yet another form of screen for the eye to rest on, when already there are so many. And is "resting" the right word ? The screens' contents tend not be passive. Many reach out and seek to arrest the eye, both for good and for ill. They have the power to penetrate minds. For ill and for good. Recently, I was sitting in a village surgery waiting room and the large display screen there showed a succession and range, not just of health notices, but also of local resources, opportunities, activities, things supportive of health and humanity in individuals and community. It was full of real interest,…
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27Jul 2018 by Rogan Wolf

Poems for…the wall in Bristol, Summer 2018

70th birthday of the NHS, poems for display in schools, Poems for the NHS, Poems for...one world, Poems for...the waiting room, Poems in Turkish, poems on mental health, public poetry, Uncategorized
When "Poems for... the wall" was piloted in London twenty years ago, it was a local affair. Some small poem-posters were put up in NHS waiting rooms in Hammersmith and Kensington. However, as the project became quickly better known and demand spread, it lost contact with an immediate locality. The poems went out far and wide, around the UK and then beyond, first by post and later digitally, downloaded from this website. In those circumstances, the co-ordinator's bike tended to stay at home and I knew rather little of what actually happened to the poems, once they arrived at their destination. But now I'm in Bristol and the bike is out again. Earlier this hot Summer of 2018, two local schools exhibited poems from the "Self at Sea" collection as…
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