The Poetry Periscope
If you’re in Birmingham or Durham over the next couple of months, you should look out for this strange beast.
It’s a sound installation called Poetry Periscope and it’s on a UK tour. It started it’s journey in April as part of the European Literature Festival, and it’s still going – unwearied and cheery in its yellowness.
It plays 30 poems from 30 European cultures. Each is played in its own language and in English translation. To stand in a shopping mall or railway station and listen to all that may be a bit much, but perhaps the commute to work or shopping trip can be enhanced by a couple of the recordings.
In addition to the Festival, a number of organisations are involved with the project including European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), The Poetry Society and Pianos on the Street.
e a m harris 
Not sure this is the place to tell you but I have nominated you for the three quote challenge (see secondtymblogger) Julie
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It’s kind of you to nominate me. Thank you. I’ve found a set of rules and they look doable, but will need some thought. I’m not very good with quotes.
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I followed the link to the British Library page, which shows the list of poems and poets. Daunting! I do like the concept, though, focusing one’s attention on the fact that, ultimately, poetry’s to be heard, not read. Funny to use “periscope” (a device for seeing) as the name for a listening device. Perhaps it had a different name in Czech, but I’ll credit it to typically arch eastern European irony. Thank you.
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I agree that the choice of periscope seems odd. I assumed it was chosen because it’s so easy to see and sort of huggable.
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What a fun idea 😀
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I totally agree. And we could all do with some more fun. Thank you for your comment.
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