World poems
Click on the poem titles above to view the poems
The first set of ‘World Poems on the Underground’ in 2012 features poets born in India, Turkey, Germany, Pakistan, Guyana and Nigeria - although their lives took them to places far removed from their countries of origin, and their poems reflect their wide-ranging cosmopolitanism. Posters appear in London Underground trains from 5 March 2012.
The poems featured on the Tube are included in a booklet of 44 World Poems on the Underground, all drawn from our Tube displays, available mid-April 2012. 120,000 copies will be distributed free as part of the London 2012 Festival at Tube stations, libraries, the Southbank Centre and other major venues. Booklets will also be available from The British Council and the Scottish Poetry Library. The booklet includes poets featured in their sets of African, Commonwealth, European, Australian and Chinese Poems on the Underground, as well as South American and Southeast Asian poets. Two of the poets in the current set (John Agard and Imtiaz Dharkeri) will be Poets in Residence at ‘Poetry Parnassus’ in summer 2012.
Poems on the Underground is supported by Transport for London, Arts Council England and the British Council, and enjoys close ties with the Poetry Society, which distributes the posters to schools throughout the UK. The poems are featured on the websites of TfL, the British Council, the Poetry Society, the Poetry Book Society, Book Trust and the English and Media Centre. Poems are selected by writer Judith Chernaik and poets Gerard Benson and Cicely Herbert, who founded the public arts programme in 1986. Posters are available from the London Transport Museum as well as the Poetry Society.
The poems and poets:
‘Finding India in Unexpected Places’ by Sujata Bhatt
Reprinted by permission of Carcanet Press from Pure Lizard (2008)
Sujata Bhatt, an award-winning poet and translator, was born in Ahmedabad, India; her mother tongue was Gujarati. Educated in the US, she lives in Germany.
‘I Sing of Change’ by Niyi Osundare
Reprinted from Selected Poems (1992) by permission of the author
Niyi Osundare was born in Nigeria, studied at the University of Ibadan, where he later taught, and gained advanced degrees at the Universities of Leeds and Toronto. A prize-winning poet and dramatist, long an active champion of free speech, he is Professor of English at the University of New Orleans.
‘Baku at Night’ by Nazim Hikmet
Reprinted by permission of Persea Books from Poems of Nazim Hikmet, translated from the Turkish by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk (2002)
Nazim Hikmet, born in 1902, is the foremost modern Turkish poet, a revolutionary writer translated into every major language, an inspiration to readers worldwide. He was a political prisoner in Turkey for 14 years, and spent his last years in exile, mainly in Russia, where he died in 1961.
‘Toussaint L’Ouverture Acknowledges Wordsworth’s Sonnet To Toussaint L’Ouverture’ by John Agard
Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe from Alternative Anthems: Selected Poems (2009)
John Agard, a popular performance poet and author of many books for children and adults, was born in Guyana, which he represents at the Southbank Centre in ‘Poetry Parnassus’. He lives in Lewes, East Sussex.
‘Carving’ by Imtiaz Dharker
Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe from The Terrorist at My Table (2006)
Imtiaz Dharker was born in Lahore, Pakistan. She grew up in Glasgow,and lives now in Mumbai, London and Wales. An artist and documentary film-maker as well as a distinguished poet, she represents Pakistan at Poetry Parnassus.
‘Boy with Orange (out of Kosovo)’ by Lotte Kramer
Reprinted by permission of Rockingham from New & Collected Poems (2011)
Lotte Kramer was born in Mainz, Germany, and came to England in the 1939 children’s transport. She has published several volumes of poems, as well as translations and versions of poems by Rilke, Holderin, Heine, and many other German writers. She lives in Peterborough.
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