Poetry In the Pews

Back in February I wrote and told lots of people about the Poetry in the Pews initiative at St Eustachus Church in Tavistock, England. The premise was simple - people were asked to write a four line poem on the theme of Love, which would be placed in the pews, a celebration of faith and creativity.

The idea really caught on. They ended up with over 1,500 poems, from all around the world being sent in, and the idea got world-wide attention of an example of how a church can celebrate creativity. Vanni Cook, who spearheaded the initiative and I wrote back and forth a bit last winter and I learned a bit more about what they were doing. It's a brilliantly simple idea any church could follow.

There had been some talk of their putting out a book with the poems and to my surprise, in yesterday's mail, I got a copy of the book from Vanni and her group that put this all together. Yesterday was my birthday, so it was a special surprise gift.

You can learn more about the Poetry in the Pews initiative on Vanni's "Aspiring Writer's" website, and even order a copy of the book there as well. Having read through some of it, I'd suggest you do just that.

Tom

PS - The picture is from the actually month of "Poetry in the Pews". You can click on the image for a larger version.