Poems on the Underground
Poems on the Underground was launched in 1986, following an idea from the American writer Judith Chernaik, to bring poetry to a wider audience.
The programme helps to make journeys more stimulating and inspiring by showcasing a range of poetry in Tube train carriages across London. The poems are selected by Judith Chernaik and poets George Szirtes and Imtiaz Dharker.
Poems on the Underground highlights classical, contemporary and international work, by both famous and relatively unknown poets. Its success has inspired similar schemes in cities around the world, from New York to Shanghai.
The scheme is supported by TfL, Arts Council England and The British Council.
Poems on the Underground (Penguin, 2015) contains over 200 poems featured on the Tube and is available from the London Transport Museum shop and all good bookshops.
The third series of poems for 2024 is now on trains.
Among the poets featured is Raymond Carver, known for his short stories as well as his poetry. His work 'Last Fragment' is also featured on his tombstone. Poet Osip Mandelstam wrote 'Goldfinch, friend, I'll cock my head' as part of a larger series of works known as the Voronezh Notebooks, which were written when Mandelstam was living in exile from his home.
Fleur Adcock, an immigrant from New Zealand who lived in London, writes about her desire for a brief taste of escape from humanity in the poem 'Dragonfly', and the South African writer Gabeba Baderoon writes about the impact of war.
This series of poems also features 2 entries from the Foyle's Young Poets of the Year competition - Arthur Lawson's 'anglerfish' and Dawn Evans' 'Epilogue.'
The poems are:
- Raymond Carver, 'Late Fragment'
- Fleur Adcock, 'Dragonfly'
- Osip Mandelstam, 'Goldfinch, friend, I'll cock my head' Translated from the Russian by Andrew Davis
- Gabeba Baderoon, 'Always for the First Time'
- Arthur Lawson, 'anglerfish'
- Dawn Sands, 'Epilogue'
Epilogue
by Dawn Sands
But the purest memory is the storybook moment
when we stood there, rain-drenched girls, elbow-high,
and for once we became the characters we pencilled to paper
like prayers as she asked the question every ten-year-old soul
wants to hold in her heartbeat forever: can we be best friends?
No popularity contest, no magic wish. Just two clouds
of loneliness converging in a clap of thunderlight,
a starlit dream to cradle us till next winter.