“The water seeps
My mind at peace
The ebb and flow
Slowly drift,
At nightfall, as cold as
Icicles
The sun a shade too bright to touch
Tides align
And time it stops
Toes they touch, a crunch
Of rocks they budge
The times I write
A vacant smudge”
“Round and solid topper with sticks
I see the elves have been up to their tricks
A hut in a field they have constructed
In which their magic may be conducted
They dance and sing clap and chant
As they decide which hiker to enchant
The spells they weave bring luck and joy
To any person girl or boy
Now if you’re quiet and act like an elf”
Peddling Poetry Project
The story so far
In the Summer of 2018, 10 ‘Poetry Boxes’ were placed along the Tarka Trail, the North Devon section of the Devon Coast to Coast Cycle Route. What happened next was an unexpected delight…Over 600 poems appeared in these boxes in just 8 weeks!!
Words were in response to the landscape and Beaford archival images from North Devon in the 1970’s and 80’s by James Ravilious and Roger Deakins.
New for 2019
A selection of these poems have been digitally geo-tagged along the Tarka Trail via the Poetry Pin web page to encourage locals, families and visitors to hunt out the current poems and write new ones for others to find.
To add a little playful fun to this amazing facility, Christopher Jelley, the lead artist has created Poetry Passports along with a series of stamping stations at cafes and information centres along the trail.
So it’s like a poetry hunt?
Yes, these gems are digitally hidden along the trail, to find them simply open the web page https://tarkatrail.poetrypin.info/ on your mobile phone.
The website will ask for your location, please click ‘allow’ (if it doesn’t then you’ll probably have to fiddle about a bit and turn your GPS on)
The Poetry Pin web page has a live map with a blue dot, this is you.
Walk over to a pin, each is a poem, once close by the title will pop up, you can then tap it to read.
Poetry Pin is just a web page not an app so it’s dead easy to do.
Can I write a poem too?
Yes, we would love more poems along the whole of the Tarka Trail from top to bottom, reflecting our history, nature and landscape, it is easy to add your own words.
On the same Poetry Pin page there is an ‘Add Poem’ button in the top right corner.
Pop in your words, name and email (secure) and they will be geotagged to the very spot you are standing, this is where people will also come to read your magic words.
Are some poems easier to find?
Currently poems are in clusters such as Fremington Quay and Instow, and other places have no poems at all!
Perhaps you should do something about this and write some interesting words about your special place along the trail.
Will there be writing workshops?
Yes, Mr Jelley the lead artist will also be running some writing and geotagging workshops in spring - so keep your eyes peeled. These will get you adding new words to the trail in a jiffy, responding to place, space and the amazing Beaford archive with images from Roger Deakins and James Ravilious.
The simple instructions
Open https://tarkatrail.poetrypin.info on your mobile phone.
Travel to the trail
Hunt out pins / poems
Be inspired and write your own
Encourage others and show off your own after geotagging them !
Attend a creative writing workshop on the trail in the spring (free!)
