Keep Carrying Your Poems...

If you’ve been enjoying February’s Carry a Poem events so far, you’ll be glad to know that there’s plenty more to come for kids and adults alike. Let’s start with the kids’ events though, since they’re the most fun sounding!

For kids with a crafty side, the Scottish Poetry Library is running a Crafty Poetry event on the 13th of February, giving kids the chance to decorate a few choice verses. If they miss that, then there’s the chance to make a purse or wallet and decorate it with the stanzas of their choosing on the 15th, at the Writers’ Museum on Lady Stair’s Close – allowing them to literally carry a poem wherever they go. And they might want to carry it to the Poetry Olympics at Holyrood Park on the 20th, an active event with old favourites, like sack races, and intriguing new events, like poem and spoon, or the obvious highlight, toss the poem! And for visual interest, Napier University is getting Primary School children to draw their favourite poems, and there’ll be an exhibit of all the entries at the Craighouse Campus. This runs from Feb 26th to March the 5th, and there may even be some prizes, if you’re good.

Then there are the events that run right through the month, for children and adults alike. First and foremost, there’s the Hunt The Poem competition, about which we can only say that you should start at www.huntthepoem.wordpress.com and go from there. That’s all we can say. All of it. And even if there was, say, maybe, one of the clues in February’s issue of The Skinny Magazine, we couldn’t tell you if it was there. At all. So don’t ask. Got that?

Anyway, also running through the month is the Poetree (get it? Yes, we hear your groans) your chance to contribute a line to a tree made up of poetic musings. You can find that in The John Hope Gateway Exhibition Area in the Botanics. A similar, but different, scheme is the Poetry Swap, which you can join in with by visiting the Poetry Garden in St Andrew’s Square. And perhaps more creatively, there’s the Bring a Poem to Whale scheme. What’s that? Well, if you bring a poem to the Whale Arts agency, there’ll be a poetry box to drop it in. And then it’ll get typed up, and they’ll all be exhibited there during the last week of the month.

But where are the events for adults? Well, what about John Hegley, poet, comedian and all round good guy – he’s appearing on February 12th (yes, that soon) at 7pm at the Scottish Poetry Library. Book tickets now, if you can –there’s even musical accompaniment. The Scottish Poetry Library will also be hosting Poems Aloud a chance to perform your choice of poem, or just listen to other people’s choices, on Monday the 15th February at 3pm. And while mentioning the Scottish Poetry Library, we should mention that there’s a Getting Into Poetry session running on Saturday the 11th of February. If you’re not sure about poetry, but you’ve read this far, this is the vent for you, a workshop on just how to best develop your ability to enjoy reading poems.

Maybe you don’t want to develop your ability though, because you’re a poetry expert. In which case, prove your mettle by entering the Poetry Pub Quiz (that’s right, those three words can go together) on Tuesday the 16th at 7pm, in The Waverley Bar. A less taxing way to combine a love of drinking and a love of versifying is the next day (the 17th February) at The Forest Café, for their regular Golden Hour event. This month will feature Tom Pow (a truly excellent poet), Claire Askew (from Read This), Ewan Morrison (the acclaimed writer) and live music (always good!). If this gives you a taste for poetic partying, then the next week, on Wednesday the 24th, there’s a Poetry Party Night at the Edinburgh Bookshop from 7.30pm. And carry on the party, jazz style, by attending the Kind of Larkin event at The Central Library, an extravaganza featuring Philip Larkin’s Jazz Poetry, his Jazz Reviews and… oh yes, a Jazz Band. That’s on February the 26th. And if you go to all of these, and need to shape up a little after excessive partying, why not start by following the Old Town Poetry Trail, starting at the Scottish Storytelling Centre from 2.30pm.

It’s a busy month if you like or love poetry. And even if you don’t, we recommend that you try out an event. There’s something poetic going on to appeal to just about anyone this month, and if you take a look at the listings you’ll see that many of these events are free. Enjoy your poems.