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Sidewalk poetry...London is just the beginning.

11/25/2016

If the city of London goes for our sidewalk poetry idea Dec. 1st, it will be a first for Canada, and a model for other Canadian cities.

I expect we would put together a comprehensive information package containing everything other cities would need to know, based on our experience.

http://www.londonpoetryopenmic.com/news/sidewalk-poetry-gearing-up-for-the-presentation

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Affirmed

11/23/2016

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AFFIRMED
by Donald Gutteridge

After a reading at Mykonos
Restaurant in London, Ontario

There is a murmuring in the crowd
at Mykonos, all eyes
upon the ageing poet
as he grasps the lectern
and steadies himself under
the bright stage-light,
and, as those in their seats wait
to be wowed, words
drip off the bard’s lips
in the sheer shape of poems,
rhymed or not, he reads
with surprising alliterative
ease, then nods at the sudden
outbursts of applause,
at the oohs and ahs in just
the right places, he smiles
a septuagenarian smile
in gratitude at something
significant having been affirmed.

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Stan Burfield Thanks, Donald Gutteridge. Your poem has also affirmed the value of London Open Mic Poetry. I just hope we can find someone to carry it on past this season.
Like · Reply · 22 November at 14:40 · Edited

Heather McIntosh Gutteridge · Friends with Donald Gutteridge
A poem about a poet reading his poems. Very nice Don. Dan
Like · Reply · 22 November at 16:07

Linda Eva Williams I would love to hear the poem being read.
Like · Reply · 22 November at 20:51

Stan Burfield Yeah, me too.
Like · Reply · 1 · 22 November at 20:53

Meredith Moeckel Me three!
Like · Reply · 1 · 23 November at 01:10
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Stan Burfield He's the easiest poet to listen to I can remember:https://youtu.be/KfJgQdhnBRw...

Don Gutteridge (Feature Poet) | Open Mic Poetry November 2,…
YOUTUBE.COM
Like · Reply · Remove Preview · 2 ·

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SIDEWALK POETRY: Gearing up for the presentation!

11/23/2016

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In preparing for our Dec. 1st presentation to the London Arts Council (LAC) of our idea to stamp poems in fresh cement as it’s being poured in sidewalk repairs, I’ve been working with three very industrious 3rd-year English students. They hail from Prof. Manina Jones’ class called Literature, Creativity and the Local. Together, we’ve been surging forward at high speed.

Jennifer Ball (L), Leizel Rafanan and Noelle Schmidt are getting a first-hand view of how poetry can be propagated outside of campus. They’ve been doing research, making petitions, asking for letters of support, refining the idea and writing the proposal.

Yesterday we met with Joel Barton, a former member of Manina’s class who is now, by chance, a member of the LAC board. He gave us an idea of what a good presentation consists of, as well as the kind of information we should know, much of which we had not thought of.

Here’s what we have now, going by what the St. Paul, Minnesota version of our arts council told us of their experience, and from injecting our own ideas:

LAC would set up a yearly city-wide contest for people who would like to get their poems imprinted. Of probably five poems selected each year, two or three might go to the city’s grade 11 and 12 English students. The rest would go to anyone else. A panel of volunteer judges, composed of poets, English profs, etc. would select the winners. (The first contest in St. Paul brought in more than 2,000 poems.)

One of our own ideas is that a committee of gung-ho volunteers, responsible to LAC, would be set up and have as its prime function keeping the city excited about the project from year to year. It would also select the panel of judges.

Once the poems are selected (all short ones, of course), they would be turned into stamps. In St. Paul each stamp is designed in terms of font, letter size, etc, then the letters are cut from plastic and built onto an aluminum frame, five frames per year. A stamp supervisor, in his own van, follows the repair crew from one repair site to the next, making sure the cement is of the right consistency, and stamping in the poem. If there were, say, one hundred repairs made in a year, at random locations, then each poem would be impressed in the sidewalks twenty times in twenty random places before it is retired.

City office staff would organize and co-ordinate. Other than setting up the contests and promoting them, they would liason with the committee, and also make sure all residents near each repair would receive advance warning via flyers so they could refuse to have a poem in front of their residences if so desired.

The finishing touch would be a map added to the city's website with locations of all the poems so citizens could plot tours by car, bike or foot. Additional information about the poems, poets and the project would be included.

Jennifer Ball has taken responsibility for gauging citizen enthusiasm for the project. She made up the petition as well as a draft letter of support. Please make use of this letter if you would like to support the idea. Just sign it as is or use it as a template to write your own. And please sign the petition below, if you haven’t already.

Thanks, Stan Burfield
organizer,
London Open Mic Poetry

Below is a draft for a letter of support for the Sidewalk Poetry Project. You are welcome to edit, modify, use this as a template, or write your own letter to suit your thoughts and perspectives. We ask that letters include your signature if possible. If not possible, no problem. You can return the letter to us, by e-mail. If you have an electronic version of your signature saved, you can copy and paste it into the letter and then send it (but if you don't, no worries--send it with your typed name and email address); or you can print it out, sign it, scan it and send it. We will include your letter in the appendices of the proposal document. Thank you for your support.

Dear London Arts Council,

I am writing to show my support for the Sidewalk Poetry project proposed by the London Open Mic Poetry organization. I believe that this is an exciting creative project that will benefit the community of London in many ways.

The project offers an opportunity for the city to support literary culture throughout all areas of the community. It opens new doors for engagement with poetry for all demographics, making it accessible and adding a new dimension to readership. The project will help develop interest in poetry for younger generations by bringing it into their lives outside of the dictated school atmosphere, and allowing them to discover poetry on their own terms, making it a part of their lives as they read the same poems regularly while they grow up. The project will also foster community involvement in the arts, and offer poets the honour of making a lasting impression upon their city.

I believe that this project is an excellent opportunity for this city, and I eagerly await the chance to witness it unfolding in the future.

Sincerely,

(If you want to use regular mail (must be received by Nov. 30th), send it to me and I will include it in the documentation at the presentation:)

Stan Burfield
Apt. 1104-112 Base Line Rd. W.
London ON
N6J 1V4

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

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PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION (to have the city stamp poems in sidewalks)

11/17/2016

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I'm very excited that we're finally approaching the actual presentation to the London Arts Council of this idea to stamp poems into the city's sidewalks during repairs. However, it isn't a given that they will institute it, no matter how much we may like it, as it will cost something. St. Paul, Minnesota, which was the first city to begin doing this, back in 2008, told us it costs them about $20,000 a year. So we need to show the city there is a desire for it here. Please help us by signing this petition. We will present it, along with our project proposal, on Dec. 1st. Thanks, Stan.
Go to the petition.

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Sidewalk poetry...London is just the beginning.

Affirmed

SIDEWALK POETRY: Gearing up for the presentation!

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION (to have the city stamp poems in sidewalks)

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