WITH World Poetry Day taking place today, Viennese coffee roasters Julius Meinl are encouraging poetry as a form of expression – and currency – in venues worldwide. The Austrian coffee roasters saw nearly 100,000 customers participate in their push for poetry last year, with coffee aficionados shunning cash for handwritten poems. Now the worldwide event has expanded to 36 countries, including the UK, taking part tomorrow, Tuesday March 21.
World Poetry Day was declared by UNESCO in 1999 with the aim of promoting poetry and literature across the globe and Julius Meinl’s Pay With A Poem movement has returned for its fourth year to celebrate the event.
Celebrate your creativity in exchange for free coffee this World Poetry Day
This year’s Pay With A Poem drive comes in the wake of research commissioned by the brand which revealed that 80% of Britons feel disillusioned with the current state of the world. However, four in five believe that exploring their creative side helps improve their outlook on life.
In response to this research, Julius Meinl has embarked on Pay With A Poem scheme, to encourage ordinary people to discover their inner poets and take up the pastime as a creative outlet. Maxime Buchi, founder and creative director of Dalston’s Sang Bleu tattoo studio, has lent his voice to the campaign. Buchi, who has inked the likes of Kanye West, said, “Poetry is not a practice, it is a mind state. The one thing that always remained constant in my work is its trans-practice quality. Designing a tattoo, clothes, publishing or teaching proceed from the same vision, and so does writing and composition. Techniques are means, poetry is the end.”
by Heather Doughty
A total of 16 venues across London are taking part in the Pay With A Poem campaign. For more information on locations, click here
World Poetry day takes place on March 21.