Places of Poetry - The Fens
I mentioned it earlier in the year when I first heard about it.
It is collecting poems which are written about places, which can then be pinned to an interactive map. Click the menu icon top right on the home page for all the details and to add your own poem.
Read about the project on the OS blog here. There is a link with the Ordnance Survey.
The project has been developed by Paul Farley and Professor Andrew McRae, who says:
“Poetry has been used across the centuries to reflect on places and their histories. We’re using modern technology to reinvigorate this model, and we hope that as many people as possible get involved. We are excited to see where people pin their poems, and what they say about the places that matter to them.”
I went on this morning and added my own poem to the map.
You can view and read it here, just outside of the city of Ely.
My poem also has a link to the Ordnance Survey, as it describes the survey of the Fens that was done in 1916, and imagines the challenges facing the surveyors of capturing this fluid and flat landscape with its shifting rivers and streams, only to find that an old Fenland boy spots a mistake. Fast-forward 100 years, and students on a geography fieldtrip, using their smartphones, notice a missing stream on their digital maps...
Why not write / add your own poem to the map to contribute.
The map is open for contributions until October, and I look forward to seeing more poems appearing over the next few months.
Here's the poem for those who might like to read it and haven't already...
Six Inches to the Fenland Mile by GeoBlogs on Scribd
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