Over the past few months, Wolverhampton poetry collective have been busy organising and facilitating the ‘Poetry on the Shakespeare Line’ project, funded by West Midlands Railway, and have brought on board (yes, there will be train puns) some of the best of the region’s poets to take part.
The project celebrates the fact that all eighteen stations along the line, from Birmingham Moor Street through to Stratford-upon-Avon, have been adopted by community groups. In April, the project pulled away on time (on The Bard’s birthday) with the release of the video of a specially-commissioned poem by Birmingham poet laureate Casey Bailey, which you can watch here. On May 28th, it gathered speed with the release of eighteen poems – one for each station along the line – specially written for the stations and their surroundings. Five former Birmingham poet laureates and several award-winning poets have been involved in this, with station adopter groups along the line supplying fascinating local knowledge which helped flavour the poems, and the range of voices represents the diversity and vibrancy of our region.
From now until the end of October, passengers on the Shakespeare Line (or folk simply visiting the stations) can listen to and download audio of the poems by using the Overhear app on their mobile phones. Whatever your taste in poetry – even if you think you don’t like it at all – there will be something for you. There are poems of wit and humour, history and hope, the role of spirit-lifting green spaces along the route and the importance of the Shakespeare Line in connecting people and communities.
The following poets helped keep the project on track by bringing their skill and their craft to it. Your service from Moor Street to Stratford will now be calling at stations with poems by: Joe Cook, Nafeesa Hamid, Kurly McGeachie, Jasmine Gardosi, Hannah Swingler, Kibriya Mehrban, Spoz, Dreadlock Alien, Dave Pitt, Emma Purshouse, Roz Goddard, Steve Pottinger, Nellie Cole, Matt Black, Julie Boden, Jane Commane, Matt Windle, and Stanley Iyanu. Enjoy!
Later this year, the poems will be installed on noticeboards at each station, together with the 'Pride of Place' poem which thanks all of the volunteers and communities for their ongoing support for the railways, and the text of Casey Bailey’s poem.
