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Poetry Posters

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New poems hit the streets of Aotearoa

As 2020 enters its final phase, Phantom has curated a selection of original works by Becky Woodall, Eamonn Tee, Simon Sweetman, Ruby Porter, Steve Thomas and David Eggleton. Diverse in their form and inspiration, these poems continue the Phantom tradition of giving street denizens some nourishing food for thought.

Poet and editor David Eggleton has no doubt poetry belongs on posters – in fact, he thinks it’s the perfect antidote for 2020’s woes:

“Why does poetry belong on posters? Because it’s about keeping calm and carrying on, with a song in your heart and a smile on your face, while sliding on someone’s dropped banana skin towards that promised land of milk and honey where Covid-19 has no dominion.”

With their stark black and white typography, Phantom’s latest poem posters are sure to stand out. Keep an eye out for them on a street near you.

There’s no money in it, so why does Phantom Billstickers print poems?

Putting up posters every week is a business model. But the pioneers of professional street poster campaigns, Phantom Billstickers have been providing free space in their poster frames for New Zealand poets for over 15 years. What gives?

Phantom’s CEO, Robin McDonnell, says the company feels a responsibility to think bigger than next week’s marketing budget.

“We started out with posters to promote acts like Dave Dobbyn and the NZ Ballet. We wanted to create an audience for their creativity, so we took to the streets and let people know. It’s the same with poetry,” McDonnell said.

There’s also the desire to show the world what New Zealanders are capable of.

Today Palmerston North, tomorrow Paris.

As well as posting poems in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and other locations around Aotearoa, Phantom Billstickers have been taking Kiwi creativity to a worldwide audience.

A network of sympathisers and enthusiasts around the world have taken to the streets to share the works of our poets. The words of Janet Frame, James K. Baxter and many others have appeared in St. Petersburg, Paris, London, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Honolulu, Rarotonga and Melbourne over the last few years.

As a result, Phantom’s poem posters regularly attract likes and feedback from people in locations far from these islands. Nothing is being sold – but something is being gained.

It’s all ‘flora for the concrete jungle’ as the Phantom mantra has it.

Tayi Tibble Q & A

“There are actually so many dope poets in New Zealand it’s literally disproportionate as well as a national mystery”

Why do you think poetry is so hot right now?

Because Megan Thee Stallion declared 2019 the year of the hot girl summer and Gigi and Bella Hadid were recently seen accessorizing their hot fits with Stephen King paperbacks. Also because poets have iphones now instead of typewriters which means we can also get on instagram and twitter, and share each other’s work dotted with cute emojis between re-tweets of Kim Kardashian’s face like it’s popular, and then it becomes popular, because life imitates art. 

We grow up with poetry in our lives. How does poetry shape us?

I think it shapes most people to hate poetry because Byron, Tennyson, Whitman are alienating and irrelevant to the modern skux, unless you’re a nerd born with bookish predisposition like me. I was a lucky nerd tho, I encountered Hone Tuwhare and Apirana Taylor poems in Intermediate school which certainly shaped me, as I discovered that there were at least two indigenous voices in poetry and New Zealand Literature. Young and ignorant and naive as I was then I thought, perhaps I could be the third. 

Tayi Tibble by Ebony Lamb photography

How can poetry break its ‘hierarchical chains’ and reach new communities?

I reckon instead of supporting me to write a follow up book, CNZ should finesse me an artist development deal with a major record label and a sick producer like, Timberland or Charli XCX and then I’ll make some dirty south(ern hempisphere) trap-poetry with bars like ‘before you try and come for me/open a book and learn to read/ because I’m literary e hoa!” which will break records as well as hierarchical chains, reaching new communities by way of making something that lil skuxes can whip to.   

Who are some NZ poets you think more people should be reading?

There are actually so many dope poets in New Zealand it’s literally disproportionate as well as a national mystery but the poets who consistently keep me in a creative state of productive jealousy include Hana Pera Aoake and Talia Marshall.

Helen Heath Q & A

” …I want people to feel they are not alone.”

Why do you think poetry is so hot right now?

Is poetry ever hot? Haha, I always feel like Poetry is the emo cousin hiding in the corner while Fiction is the cool kid in the room. I guess Hera Lindsay Bird is one reason and platforms like Instagram and Youtube along with slam events are another. It is certainly easier to find ‘your people’ now on the internet than it was in Lower Hutt in the 80s, for example.

We grow up with poetry in our lives. How does poetry shape us?

It’s something many people turn to at significant moments in their lives, such as weddings or funerals. However, I think many people feel like poetry is some kind of cruel trick that English teachers taunted them with at school. My hope is that people can get past that and find personal resonance and meaning or just humour and delight. Mostly I want people to feel they are not alone.

Helen Heath by Victoria Birkinshaw 2018

How can poetry break its ‘hierarchical chains’ and reach new communities?

I don’t think poetry has really had ‘hierarchical chains’ for a long time. It just gets bad press from people who hated poetry in school. 

Who are some NZ poets you think more people should be reading?

Maria McMillan, Helen Lehndorf, Helen Rickerby and Vana Manasiades are great – have a read!

Therese Lloyd Q & A

“Poetry has a magic and heft to it that other writing doesn’t.”

Why do you think poetry is so hot right now?

At the moment, the major university presses and some of the smaller presses are doing a brilliant job of publishing fresh and dynamic work. It seems like there’s more risk taking amongst both poets and publishers and that definitely makes for exciting reading!

We grow up with poetry in our lives. How does poetry shape us?

There’s a reason people always want poems read at weddings and funerals. Even people who never read poetry have a need for it. Poetry has a magic and heft to it that other writing doesn’t. For me, I think I was shaped by poetry sonically before anything else. The rhythms and sounds of words were what drew me to poetry when I was young, even before the content.

Therese Lloyd by Grant Maiden 2017

How can poetry break its ‘hierarchical chains’ and reach new communities?

I think it’s kind of funny that poetry is still so often perceived as fiction’s difficult, awkward cousin. Poets all know that that’s not the case of course, but old ideas take a long time to shift. I wonder if those hierarchical chains are symptomatic of bigger issues? I blame capitalism. There you go, smash capitalism, that’s the answer!

Who are some NZ poets you think more people should be reading?

Tracey Slaughter, Michael Steven, Stephanie Christie, Anahera Gildea, Amy Brown.

Erik Kennedy Q & A

“…people are realising that our frantic-paced, growth-obsessed, world-destroying capitalist society is failing to nurture us, and poetry allows us to slow down, reassess, and repair.”

Why do you think poetry is so hot right now?

I like to think that poetry is having a moment now because people are realising that our frantic-paced, growth-obsessed, world-destroying capitalist society is failing to nurture us, and poetry allows us to slow down, reassess, and repair. (But maybe people just like stuff that sounds good and poets are far better at performing their work than they used to be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

We grow up with poetry in our lives. How does poetry shape us?

Poetry shapes us to the degree to which we let it. We soften ourselves to take its impression. This process of self-softening, this plasticity, is probably more important (from an individual’s perspective) than poetry itself.

Eric Kennedy Web by Victoria Birkenshaw 2018

How can poetry break its ‘hierarchical chains’ and reach new communities?

I suspect that there will always be artistic hierarchies, not least because ‘outsiders’ exclude too when they start to attain influence. The key is to have multiple centres of activity, multiple modes of practice, and poets who actually read each other even if they’re not friends. In the context of this country’s poetry, I think the literary culture would have to be a lot less Wellington-centric than it is now if the existing hierarchies were to be truly challenged.

Who are some NZ poets you think more people should be reading?

I’ll just unleash some names. Lynley Edmeades. James Norcliffe. Nick Ascroft. Paula Harris. David Gregory. I don’t think enough people read Ashleigh Young as a poet (she’s obviously read by all and sundry as an essayist). I’ve liked every Freya Daly Sadgrove poem I’ve read, and I assume that a collection will be materialising sometime in the future. And read Rebecca Nash’s new stuff (or hear it live if it’s not published yet)!