Poetry on the Underground is a great idea – but don’t stop at the underground and don’t keep it in London.  Let’s have random poetry in public places all over the UK; the sides of buses, in bus stops,  train stations, airports, advertising boards. Maybe start a ‘pick up a poem’ campaign. What happened to poetry in doctors surgeries? I remember Dr Geoff Lowe at Hull University talking about this many years ago. Rarely, has google let me down but all I can find is Geoff’s paper on the Health-related effects of creative and expressive writing http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1537773 and the Poems in the Waiting Room site at http://www.poemsinthewaitingroom.org/index.html They may be connected – maybe not – but both have validity.

All over towns, small doctor’s surgeries are being replaced by corporate, depersonalised Health Centres. Here’s an idea. Alongside the the bland impressionistic pictures of flowers, there could be framed poems on the walls and with the donated magazines, poetry cards. It wouldn’t cost much and if poetry is good for you then it might help us feel better.