Among them were Blue, Blue is the Grass from 19 Old Poems of the Han (1st century AD), translated by Ezra Pound; and New Year 1933 by Lu Xun (1881-1936), translated by WJF Jenner.

In a cultural exchange between Shangai Metro and LU, two of the poems displayed across the Underground network were: The Red Cockatoo by Po Chu-I (AD772-846), translated by Arthur Waley; Listening to a Monk from Shu Playing the Lute by Li Bai (AD701-62), translated by Vikram Seth.

In addition, the following two other Shanghai Exchange poems were exhibited at Charing Cross station: Spring Rain by Du Fu, translated by Kenneth Rexroth; and Taking Leave of a Friend by Li Bai, translated by Ezra Pound.

This coincided with a display of poems by William Wordsworth, William Blake, Percy Shelley and Kathleen Jamie on the Shanghai Metro.

The posters, designed by Tom Davidson, feature specially commissioned calligraphy by Qu Lei Lei

The Red Cockatoo by Po Chu-i

New Year 1933 by Lu Xun

Listening to a Monk from Shu playing the Lute by Li Bai

Blue, blue is the grass (The Beautiful Toilet) by Anonymous

Set 63 February 2006

There was an Old Man of Blackheath by Edward Lear

When I have fears that I may cease to be by John Keats

Birch Canoe by Carter Revard

Promise by Jackie Kay

Poetry by Saadi Youssef

And Yet the Books by Czeslaw Milosz

Set 64 June 2006

Silver by Walter de la Mare

La forza d’un bel viso a che mi sprona? by Michelangelo

Happiness by Stephen Dunn

Sonnet from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song: On May Morning by John Milton

Swallows by Owen Sheers

Set 65 October 2006

from The Borough by George Crabbe

Sisu by Lavinia Greenlaw

Prospero’s Farewell by William Shakespeare

City by John Betjeman

The Thing Not Said by E.A. Markham

Reconciliation by Walt Whitman

Set 66 (Love Poems on the Underground) February 2007

A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

Close close all night by Elizabeth Bishop

Ballad of the Londoner by James Elroy Flecker

Feste’s Song by William Shakespeare

Lesson by Anne Stevenson

In our Tenth Year by Simon Armitage

Set 67 (African Poems on the Underground) June 2007

Season by Wole Soyinka

I Sing of Change by Niyi Osundare

Tin Roof by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Et nous baignerons mon amie by Leopold Sedar Senghor

Inside My Zulu Hut by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

from Poem to Her Daughter by Mwana Kupona binti Msham

Set 68 October 2007

Snow by Louis MacNeice

Rain Travel by W. S. Merwin

lines from Tell Me the Truth About Love by W.H. Auden (1907 – 73)

Ah! Sun – Flower by Wiliam Blake

Heirloom by Anne Hartigan

In the Heart of Hackney by Sebastian Barker

Set 69 February 2008

Winter Travels by Bei Dao Tr. David Hinton with Yanbing Chen

Vase by Yang Lian tr. John Cayley

Maple Bridge Night Mooring by Chang Chi and At Maple Bridge by Gary Snyder

The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (1879 – 1955)

Bowl by Elizabeth Cook

Set 70 June 2008

The Expulsion from Eden by John Milton

from the Prelude by William Wordsworth

Song from Comus by John Milton

A Musical Note by Elizabeth Smart

Into Rail by John Hegley

Industrial by Frances Leviston

Set 71 October 2008

She Tells Her Love by Robert Graves

They Flee from Me by Sir Thomas Wyatt

The River Road by Sean O’ Brien

On Receiving News of the War by Isaac Rosenberg

My Voice by Partaw Naderi

Parting in Wartime by Frances Cornford

Set 72 February 2009

Tortoise by Judith Chernaik

Alicante by Jacques Prévert

An Old Pit Pony by Paul Muldoon

Brooch by Menna Elfyn

Repeat that, repeat by Gerard Manley Hopkins

A Prehistoric Camp by Andrew Young

Set 73 (London Poems on the Underground) July 2009

And Now Goodbye by Jaroslav Seifert

Like a Beacon by Grace Nichols

from Jerusalem by William Blake

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordsworth

from Rhymes on the Road by Thomas Moore

After the Lunch by Wendy Cope

Set 74 (Best Poems on the Underground) October 2009

A selection of poems from the ‘Best Poems on the Underground’ anthology

Everyone Sang by Siegfried Sassoon

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy

Her Anxiety by W.B. Yeats

This Is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams

Indian Cooking by Moniza Alvi

Set 75 (Science Poems on the Underground) February 2010

London Underground (LU) is celebrating 350 years of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest science academy, with a new set of poems that reflect on the meaning of science.

This latest collection of poems show the very different responses to science that Blake, Tennyson and four other poets have had to astonishing scientific discoveries made between the 18th and 21st centuries.

Out There by Jamie McKendrick

It looks so simple from a distance… by Anne Stevenson

Fulcrum/ Writing a World by David Morley

In the microscope by Miroslav Holub

from In Memoriam by Alfred Lord Tennyson

from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

Set 76 (Music Poems on the Underground) June 2010

A collection of six posters with poems about music, from Hardy’s birdsong in ‘Proud Songsters’ to D. H. Lawrence’s tribute to music and memory in ‘Piano’, as well as Gillian Clarke’s ‘Ode to Joy’ (After Schiller), a poem commissioned by Poems on the Underground.

Ode to Joy by Gillian Clarke

Piano by D. H. Lawrence

Caliban by William Shakespeare

Maire Macrae’s Song by Kathleen Raine

Harmonica by Michael Longley

Proud Songsters by Thomas Hardy

Set 77 (Young Poets on the Underground) October 2010

Young Poets on the Underground is a set of six poems, three of which were the winners of the 2010 Poems on the Underground Competition for young poets. A further three are poems by well known poets.

The Way We Go by Katherine Towers

Sweet Thames Flow Softly by Ewan MacColl (1915 – 1989)

For the War Dead by A. E Housman

If a boy must wonder by Leon Yuchin Lau

First Contact by Hattie Grunewald

Whalesong by Sophie Stephenson – Wright

Set 78 (Poems on the Underground celebrating 25 years) February 2011

Lines from Endymion by John Keats

Loving the rituals by Palladas translated by Tony Harrison

Colmcille the Scribe by Seamus Heaney

Lines to a Movement in Mozart’s E-flat Symphony by Thomas Hardy

Riddle by Gerard Benson

For the Life of this Planet by Grace Nichols

Set 79 (Polish Poems on the Underground) June 2011

In June and July 2011, three poems by major Polish poets – ‘Blacksmith Shop’ by Czeslaw Milosz, ‘Nothing Special’ by Zbigniew Herbert and ‘Star’ by Adam Zagajewski — will be on display in Tube trains, marking the centenary of Czesław Miłosz, Nobel Laureate, one of the greatest poets of our time.

The poets were close friends and associates, writing in the dark shadow of Polish suffering during and after the Second World War. Milosz translated the poems of Herbert and introduced Adam Zagajewski to English-speaking readers; Zagajewski wrote the Introduction to Herbert’s Collected Poems. All three poets were ‘makers’ in the oldest sense, artists building a world ‘from remnants’, celebrating the joys of ordinary life despite the ravages of history.

Three poems by British poets continue our theme: the power of poetry to record the world, to ‘tease out the melody’, to give weight to memory and hope:

    ‘The Windhover’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins, written in Hopkins’ personal language of religious ecstasy

     ‘At Sixty’ by the Shetlandic poet Christine de Luca, about reaching the age of sixty in the far north. The poem is written in Shetlandic, a Scots dialect still spoken in the Shetland Islands—which just happen to lie on the 60th parallel.

      ‘Ourstory’ by Carole Satyamurti, a tribute to the unsung ‘awkward women’ whose tenacity helped to liberate the lives of women today.

Star by Adam Zagajewski

Nothing Special by Zbigniew Herbert

The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins

At Sixty by Christine De Luca

Blacksmith Shop by Czeslaw Milosz

Ourstory by Carole Satyamurti

Set 80 (War Poems on the Underground) October 2011

This set of Poems on the Underground commemorates wars past and present and is dedicated to the universal longing for peace.

The Morning After (August 1945) by Tony Harrison

Isaiah 2.4 from the King James Bible

Song in Space by Adrian Mitchell

Lost in France by Ernest Rhys

Futility by Wilfred Owen

Passing-Bells by Carol Ann Duffy

Set 81 (World Poems on the Underground) February 2012

The new set of ‘World Poems on the Underground’ includes poets from India, Turkey, Germany, Pakistan, Guyana and Nigeria

I Sing of Change by Niyi Osundare

Boy with Orange (out of Kosovo) by Lotte Kramer

Finding India in Unexpected Places by Sujata Bhatt

Baku at Night by Nazim Hikmet

Toussaint L’Ouverture Acknowledges Wordsworth’s Sonnet To Toussaint L’Ouverture’ by John Agard

Carving by Imtiaz Dharker

Set 82 June 2012

Posters featuring three poems by William Shakespeare and three by resident Londoners.

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Under the greenwood tree by William Shakespeare

In the Heart of Hackney by Sebastian Barker

Viv for cricketer, Vivian Richards by Faustin Charles

The Thunderbolt’s Training Manual by Danielle Hope

Puck to Oberon by William Shakespeare

Set 83 (From the Anthology) October 2012

Set of posters taken from the November 2012 Poems on the Underground anthology A New Edition (Particular Books/ Penguin).

The poems are on themes central to the anthology: Love, Seasons, War, Exile and Loss, Music and The Natural World

Two Fragments by Sappho

A song for England by Andrew Salkey

A Dead Statesman by Rudyard Kipling

The Emigrant Irish by Eavan Boland

Concerto for Double Bass by John Fuller

Swallows by Owen Sheers

2013: A year-long celebration of 150 years of London Underground

Set 84 February 2013 : London Then and Now

The first set of Poems on the Underground in 2013 has been specifically chosen to reflect London as it was and London as it is now, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of London Underground.

The six poems reflect typical aspects of London as seen by Londoners and visitors to London, past and present. We also feature the immigrant experience which was so important to post-war London (and the tube in particular)

From The Prelude William Wordsworth

Vacillation W.B.Yeats

Stations Connie Bensley

Gherkin Music Jo Shapcott

Barter Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Bam Chi Chi La La London 1969 Lorna Goodison

Set 85 June 2013: London in motion

Poems on the Underground will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats throughout 2015.

The first set of poems for March 2015 features the final stanza of ‘Sailing to Byzantium’, Yeats’s tribute to the timeless power of imagination, and his popular love poem ‘He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’.

Also featured are a translation of Antoine O Raifteiri’s Irish verses by Lady Gregory, Yeats’s friend and close associate in the Irish revival; Louis MacNeice’s epigraph to Holes in the Sky (1944); and poems by the distinguished contemporary Irish poets Eavan Boland and Paula Meehan.

The poems will be displayed in London Tube trains from 2 March 2015. Posters, designed by Tom Davidson, are available from the Poetry Society and London Transport Museum.

A leaflet celebrating Irish poetry including these poems and poems by Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, and Nuala Ni Dhohmnaill will be free to the public at tube stations in mid-March.

The paperback publication of the Penguin anthology Poems on the Underground will be celebrated on 26 March 2015. The collection includes poems by Yeats and many other Irish poets, including Patrick Kavanagh, Oscar Wilde, Louis MacNeice, Seamus Heaney, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Michael Longley, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and Paul Muldoon.

From Jerusalem William Blake

At Lord’s Francis Thompson

Buses on the Strand R. P. Lister

The Conversation of Old Men Thom Gunn

Our Meetings Andrew Waterman

Moment in a Peace March Grace Nichols

Set 86 October 2013 : London Underground 150

The final set of poems in 2013 is the climax of a year-long celebration of LU150 – the anniversary of the opening of the Metropolitan line in 1863. The poems, on display for eight weeks from Oct 21, appear with the other poems featured this year in a booklet of London Poems on the Underground, 80,000 copies free to the public at Zone 1 tube stations from 14 October. Three poems in the new set turn tube stations into verse: John Hegley’s specially commissioned poem ‘Thankyou London Underground’, Betjeman’s memory of alighting at every station as a child (with an illustration of ‘The Underground’ by Hugh Casson), and a delightful poem made of station ‘Spoonerisms’ by Brian O’Connor (a poet new to our programme). Contemporary London life is captured in ‘On the Thames’ by Karen McCarthy Woolf, born in London to English and Jamaican parents (illustrated by a ‘River view’ by David Gentleman); and there are two Poems on the Underground ‘staff choices’, Wordsworth’s sonnet ‘On Westminster Bridge’ and a poem from the first set of poems in 1986, ‘Like a Beacon’ by Grace Nichols, evoking the homesickness of a recent immigrant to our great city.

Composed upon Westminster Bridge William Wordsworth

From Summoned by Bells John Betjeman

Spooner Goes Under Brian O’Connor

On the Thames Karen McCarthy Woolf

Thank you London Underground John Hegley

Like a Beacon Grace Nichols

Set 87 January 2014: Greek Poems and Poets

The spring 2014 set of Poems on the Underground is in honour of the Greek EU Presidency (January-June 2014) and in celebration of the enduring ties between Greek culture and our own world

As a gale on the mountainside Sappho tr. Cicely Herbert and

This place is Aphrodite’s Anyte of Tegea ‘’ tr. Peter Constantine

Ionian Song C.P. Cavafy

From “Amorgos” Nikos Gatsos

On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer John Keats

From “Don Juan” Lord Byron

Bread Dipped in Olive Oil and Salt Theo Dorgan

Set 88 June 2014: Welsh Poems and Poets

The summer 2014 set of Poems on the Underground celebrates the centenary of Dylan Thomas

From “Fern Hill” Dylan Thomas

Mysteries Dannie Abse

In a young time Gerard Benson

Six bells Gillian Clarke

Small brown job Gwyneth Lewis

Skirrid Fawr Owen Sheers

Set 89 October 2014 : War Poems

The autumn 2014 set of Poems on the Underground commemorates the centenary of the First World War

In Memoriam (Easter 1915) by Edward Thomas

Bach and the Sentry Ivor Gurney

The General by Siegfried Sassoon

Fratelli/Brothers by Giuseppe Ungaretti translated by Patrick Creagh

Im Osten / In the East by Georg Trakl, a new translation by David Constantine

La Petite Auto/The Little Car by Guillaume Apollinaire translated by the Editors

Set 90 January 2015: Yeats 150 (throughout 2015) and Irish Poetry

The spring 2015 set of Poems on the Underground celebrates the 150th anniversary of the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats

Sailing to Byzantium W.B. Yeats

He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven W.B. Yeats

I am Raftery the Poet Lady Augusta Gregory

What is Truth Louis MacNeice

Legends Eavan Boland

Not Weeding Paula Meehan

Set 91 Yeats 150 Summer Poems on the Underground June 2015

The summer 2015 set of Poems on the Underground continues to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats

When You Are Old W.B. Yeats

Westron wynde when wylt thou blow Anon

Cuts Sam Riviere

Had I not been awake Seamus Heaney

Stationery Agha Shahid Ali

from Labour Ward Anna T Szabó

Set 92 October 2015: Young Poets on the Underground

Young Poets on the Underground is a set of six poems, three of which were the winners of the 2015 Poems on the Underground Competition for young poets. A further three are poems by well known poets.

Playtime Matt Broomfield

Boy Imogen Cassels

Circulation Laura Harray

An Irish Airman foresees his Death W.B. Yeats

The Sloth Theodore Roethke

Bam Chi Chi La La: London, 1969 Lorna Goodison

Set 93 January 2016: Repeat of our first set for 30^th anniversary of Poems on the Underground 1986 – 2016

This set of poems marks the 30^th year of Poems on the Underground – the same poems which launched the popular programme in January 1986.

Up in the Morning Early Robert Burns

Ozymandias Percy Bysshe Shelley

This Is Just to Say William Carlos Williams

The Railway Children Seamus Heaney

Like a Beacon Grace Nichols

Set 94 July 2016 Shakespeare’s 400th Anniversary

This set of poems commemorates the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Three works by Shakespeare are featured, as well as three poems written in response to Shakespeare’s works:

Sonnet 116 William Shakespeare

Ariel’s song, from The Tempest William Shakespeare

From King Lear William Shakespeare

With a Guitar, To Jane P.B. Shelley

Hour Carol Ann Duffy, from Rapture

The Sonnets Michael Longley

Set 95 November 2016: London is Open

This set of poems celebrates the Mayor’s campaign, London is Open. These London poems suggest the wonderful diversity of our great city in all its aspects, its people and places, its famous squares, its parks and markets, its vibrant present and its glorious past.

A Trojan Horse in Trafalgar Square George Szirtes –

London Fields Michael Rosen

Chilling Out Beside the Thames John Agard

Our Town with the Whole of India Daljit Nagra

No. 3 from Uses for the Thames Jane Draycott

Autumn Journal Louis MacNeice

Set 96 February 2017: International poetry by Israeli, Palestinian, Italian and British poets

This set of poems celebrates three major international poets of the 20th century: the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000), the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008) and the Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968). These poets are profiled alongside three other poets who share an international outlook: W.H. Auden, William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Jennings.

Green the land of my poem Mahmoud Darwish

‘Ein Yahav’ from “ Israeli Travel: Otherness is All, Otherness is Love” Yehuda Amichai

And suddenly it’s evening Salvatore Quasimodo

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun from Cymbeline William Shakespeare

Delay, Elizabeth Jennings

Funeral Blues W.H. Auden

Set 97 August 2017: Indian Poems on the Underground

This set of poems celebrates several distinguished contemporary Indian poets, representing a broad range of voices from the Indian subcontinent and the huge Indian diaspora. Three poems – ‘Pilgrim’, ‘This Morning’, and ‘Approaching Fifty’ – include illustrations taken from David Gentleman’s India, by kind permission of David Gentleman.

Pilgrim Eunice de Souza

This Morning Mona Arshi

Today Sujata Bhatt

The Butterfly Arun Kolatkar

Approaching Fifty Arvind Krishna Mehrotra

Stationery Agha Shahid Ali

Set 98 February 2018 editors’ choice (with two Young Poets Foyle Young Poets of the Year

A new set of Poems on the Underground went live on the tube on 12th February for four weeks. The poems celebrate the strong links between past and present, London and Lithuania, East and West, with young and established poets well represented. This set of Poems on the Underground also celebrates 20 years of The Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, and we are pleased to feature two former winners of the competition, Safrina Ahmed and Kyle Spencer, as well as 2017 judge Sinéad Morrissey.

Layers of Kant reveal Safrina Ahmed

Astral Enlightenment Kyle Spencer

Grasmere Journal, 1801 Sinéad Morrissey

Look there he goes even now, my father Daljit Nagra

Love Hannah Lowe

A Date on Sunday Antanas Šimkus,

Cuckoo (‘Has it flown away’) Fujiwara no Toshinari, translated by Geoffrey Bownas and Anthony Thwaite

Set 99 August 2018 : Windrush 70, A Celebration of Caribbean poetry

The summer set of Poems on the Underground is a celebration of Caribbean poetry, on the occasion of Windrush 70, with poems by James Berry, Andrew Salkey, Jean Binta Breeze, Lorna Goodison, Kwame Dawes and Grace Nichols, The poems reflect on common themes: the dream of awakening in a new world of hope and prosperity; the complex realities of life in the Caribbean and in Britain; the poets’ ties to the old world and the new. Poems will be displayed on London Underground trains in late June-July for four weeks. The poems:

A dream of leavin by James Berry (1924-2017) James Berry spent his childhood in a village in Jamaica, and came to Britain in 1948, working as a telephonist and publishing several volumes of poetry for adults and children. He edited the first collections of poems by British/West Indian poets, and was a much-loved figure as poet and reader.

History and Away by Andrew Salkey (1928-1995) Andrew Salkey, raised in Jamaica, later attended the University of London and became part of the London community of emerging West Indian writers as author, anthologist and editor. He contributed to the BBC as an interviewer, critic, and author of many radio plays and features.

dreamer by Jean Binta Breeze Brought up by her grandparents in rural Jamaica, Jean Binta Breeze studied at the Jamaican School of Drama and is a popular poet and performer both in Jamaica and England, where she has lived since the 1970s, Her most recent collection is The Arrival of Brighteye and Other Poems,

Dew by Kwame Dawes Recognised as one of the Caribbean’s leading writers, Kwame Dawes has written over thirty books. His collection Wheels includes a series of poems paying homage to the people of Haiti after the earthquake of 2010.

I Am Becoming my Mother by Lorna Goodison. Born in Kingston in 1947, Lorna Goodison is a much-published poet, short story writer, and artist. She taught at the University of Michigan, and now divides her time between Canada and Jamaica, where she has recently been appointed Poet Laureate.

Epilogue by Grace Nichols Born in Guyana in 1950, Grace Nichols has lived in Britain since 1977. A prize-winning poet, children’s author and novelist, she is widely recognised for her inspiring readings and the range and charm of her writings.

A dream of leavin James Berry (1924-2017)

History and Away Andrew Salkey (1928-1995)

dreamer Jean Binta Breeze

Dew Kwame Dawes

I Am Becoming my Mother Lorna Goodison.

Epilogue Grace Nichols

Set 100 November 2018: Armistice, November 1918

This set of poems is on the London Underground from November until mid-December 2018. The poems mark the centenary of the Armistice of November 1918, and also look towards the future – the wars that followed ‘the war to end war’, and the instinct of each new generation to hope for a renewal of life.

Everyone Sang Siegfried Sassoon

Thaw Edward Thomas, killed on 9 April 1917 during the Battle of Arras

Heroes Kathleen Raine

Armistice Day Charles Causley

The place where we are right Yehuda Amichai

Inscription for a War A.D. Hope, with the famous ‘Inscription at Thermopylae’: Stranger, go tell the Spartans / we died here obedient to their commands

Set 101 February 2019 : Love, then and now

John Anderson, my jo, Robert Burns

Meeting at Night, Robert Browning

Wild Nights! Emily Dickinson

Hops Boris Pasternak, translated from Russian by Jon Stallworthy and Peter France

The Present, by Michael Donaghy

India, by Jane Draycott

A leaflet of twenty-four Love Poems on the Underground, with several from our earlier sets of poems, is available free at tube stations during February and March 2019.

Set 102 July 2019: : The Natural World

A new set of five poems goes live on London tubes on 1 July 2019 for four weeks. The poems all explore the relationship between human beings and the natural world. Some deal specifically with the urgent issue of climate change. Others reflect more generally on the ways in which human beings take solace and meaning from their living world of earth, sea and sky.

The Meaning of Existence Les Murray

Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide Maura Dooley

I Am the Song Charles Causley

The shaft Helen Dunmore

My life closed twice before its close Emily Dickinson

Set 103 November 2019: : Time and memory

A new set of six poems made their way round London’s tube system this November. The poems aim to cheer up commuters suffering from short days, grey skies, and the daily assault of world and national news. The themes were time and memory, addressed in poems which speak to readers of all ages and backgrounds.

Music when soft voices die P.B. Shelley

All Souls Night Frances Cornford

My Father Yehuda Amichai

Suddenly Salvatore Quasimodo

Diary Katrina Naomi

For the House Sparrow in Decline Paul Farley

Set 104 February 2020: Love and Nature, youth and age

A new set of Poems on the Underground will be posted in tube trains on 10 February 2020 for four weeks. The poems, serious and humorous, touch on themes of love, nature, youth and age, and the changing seasons, as the dark days of February give way to early signs of spring.

Sonnet 98 (‘From you I have been absent in the spring’) William Shakespeare

Honesty, from ‘Talking to the Weeds’, Kit Wright

The Gulls Jacob Polley

Prayer for My Father as a Child Miriam Nash

Fear Ciaran Carson

Perseverance Marin Sorescu, translated by D.J. Enright

Set 105 August 2020 : Poems of hope in difficult times

In the Spring and Summer of 2020, a new set of Poems on the Underground went live. They aimed to lift the spirits of key-workers and other passengers during the pandemic

And if I speak of Paradise Roger Robinson

Cordón Laura Chalar, translated by Erica Mena

Everything Changes Cicely Herbert

London Fields Michael Rosen

Note Leanne O’Sullivan

Time to be slow John O’Donohue

Set 106 October/November 2020 : Poems for Black History Month

November 2020 We continue to celebrate Black poets with six poems included in October’s Black History Month leaflet, now available free at London tube stations – poems by Jamaican poet laureate Lorna Goodison, Barbadian Kamau Brathwaite, James Berry, who was part of the Windrush generation who helped to rebuild Britain after the war, Ghanaian Kwame Dawes, Nigerian Niyi Osundare and a new voice in our programme, Nick Makoha, born in Uganda. To mark Armistice Day, we are reprinting war poems displayed from 2014-2018 to commemorate the First World War, and touching on wars from the earliest times to the present. We follow the war poems with some more ‘favourites’ from earlier sets.

Naima Kamau Brathwaite

Benediction James Berry

I am Becoming my Mother Lorna Goodison

I Sing of Change Niyi Osundare

BOM Mumbai Airport Nick Makoha

Dew Kwame Dawes

Set 107 February 2021 : John Keats. Bicentenary of his death

From 8 February 2021, a new set of Poems on the Underground will go live on tube cars throughout the month, and into March, celebrating 200 years of John Keats’s legacy. In addition to two poems by Keats, we have a stanza from Shelley’s Adonais, and poems by contemporary poets on themes that were important to Keats, especially his love of the natural world.

from ‘Endymion’ John Keats

When I have fears that I may cease to be John Keats

from Adonais Percy Bysshe Shelley

Wish You Were Here Julia Fiedorczuk, translated by Bill Johnston

rising Jean Binta Breeze

I go inside the tree Jo Shapcott

Set 108 Summer 2021

As we mark 35 years of Poems on the Underground, we are delighted to offer tube travellers a summer set of poems by an international range of poets.

These poems can be found on London Underground cars throughout July.

Remembering Summer by the American poet W.S. Merwin, from Garden Time (Bloodaxe Books 2016)

Her Glasses by Pascale Petit, who is of French/Welsh/Indian heritage. Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Tiger Girl (2020)

In the Bright Sleeve of the Sky from Deaf Republic (Faber 2019) by Ilya Kaminsky, who lost his hearing at the age of four – born in the Ukraine, emigrated with his family to America

Consider the Grass Growing by the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh. Reprinted from Collected Poems edited by Antoinette Quinn (Allen Lane, 2004) by kind permission of the Trustees of the Estate of the late Katherine B. Kavanagh, through the Jonathan Williams Literary Agency.

An epigram from The Greek Anthology by Anyte of Tegea, translated by David Constantine (‘Midsummer in the leaves there’s a murmuring breath of air’)

Black Ink by the Iraqi poet Fawzi Karim, from Incomprehensible Lesson (Carcanet 2019)

Set 109 Autumn 2021

A new set of poems will be circling London Underground trains throughout November 2021. As the year draws to a close, poems by the Scottish makar Jackie Kay and the distinguished Jamaican poet Linton Kwesi Johnson celebrate the enduring value of our closest human relationships. And well-loved poems by Keats and Hopkins, alongside new poems by Laurel Prizewinners Seán Hewitt and Sean Borodale, remind us of the glory and fragility of the natural world.

The poems featured in November 2021:

The final stanza of Inversnaidby Gerard Manley Hopkins. While Hopkins served as a priest in Glasgow, he visited the famous wetlands of Inversnaid, near Loch Lomond.

What would the world be, once bereft / Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, / O let them be left, wildness and wet; / Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

The last stanza of Keats’s poem To Autumn, as moving now as it was when Keats wrote it two hundred years ago, aware that he probably had not long to live.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, —

Beacon of Hope by Linton Kwesi Johnson (for his close friend and mentor, John La Rose):

welcome nocturnal friend / I name you beacon of hope…as you guide us beyond the stars / to a new horizon (Selected Poems, Penguin 2006)

Leaf by Seán Hewitt

For how each leaf traps light as it falls. / For even in the nighttime of life / it is worth living, just to hold it. (Tongues of Fire, Cape 2020)

Hot Bright Visionary Flies by Sean Borodale

One day, it will stop: / The air will stop; the light will stop. (Inmates, Penguin 2020)

Promise by Jackie Kay

Fill your glass. Here’s tae us. Promises / made to be broken, made to last. (Darling: New & Selected Poems, Bloodaxe 2007)

Inversnaid by Gerard Manley Hopkins

From To Autumn by John Keats

Beacon of Hope (for John La Rose) by Linton Kwesi Johnson

Leaf by Seán Hewitt

Hot Bright Visionary Flies by Sean Borodale

Promise by Jackie Kay

Set 110 February 2022

A new set of poems on love, music, and the coming of spring will be on London Underground trains from February 14th.

We hope tube travellers will enjoy poems by Sasha Dugdale, Derek Walcott, Grace Nichols, Martin Bell and Raymond Antrobus

We are also marking the bicentenary of the death of the Romantic poet P B Shelley with the last stanza of his Ode to the West Wind, with famous lines which speak to all of us: ‘O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?’

The poems will be circulating on Underground and Overground trains through February and March.

The poems featured in February:

Private Ownership by Sasha Dugdale Reprinted by permission of Carcanet from Notebook (2003)

Love after Love by Derek Walcott Reprinted by permission of Faber from Collected Poems (1986)

Praise Song for My Mother by Grace Nichols Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown from I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe 2010)

The Songs by Martin Bell Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Complete Poems (1988)

Upwards (forTy Chijioke) after Christopher Gilbert by Raymond Antrobus Reprinted by permission of Picador from All the Names Given (2021)

from Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Private Ownership by Sasha Dugdale ' I belong to you And, I am not afraid to say it, You belong to me. I am a private owner, it could be said. I will not share you with the nation – Nor collectivise you. We will indulge in dangerous dissolution And luxury and harmful intelligence And sleep in our own skins And go scented and unrepentant To the airport at the end. ' Reprinted by permission of Carcanet from Notebook (2003)

Love after Love by Derek Walcott ' The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.' Reprinted by permission of Faber from Collected Poems (1986)

Praise Song for My Mother by Grace Nichols 'You were water to me deep and bold and fathoming You were moon’s eye to me pull and grained and mantling You were sunrise to me rise and warm and streaming You were the fishes red gill to me the flame tree’s spread to me the crab’s leg/the fried plantain smell replenishing replenishing Go to your wide futures, you said' Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown from I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe 2010)

The Songs by Martin Bell ' Continuous, a medley of old pop numbers – Our lives are like this. Three whistled bars Are all it takes to catch us, defenceless On a District Line platform, sullen to our jobs, And the thing stays with us all day, still dapper, still Astaire, Still fancy-free. We’re dreaming while we work. Be careful, keep afloat, the past is lapping your chin. South of the Border is sad boys in khaki In 1939. And J’attendrai a transit camp, Tents in the dirty sand. Don’t go back to Sorrento. Be brisk and face the day and set your feet On the sunny side always, the sunny side of the street ' Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Complete Poems (1988)

Upwards (for Ty Chijioke) after Christopher Gilbert by Raymond Antrobus ' The last place the sun reaches in my garden is the back wall where the ivy grows above the stinging nettles. What are they singing to us? Is it painless to listen? Will music soothe our anxious house? Speech falls on things like rain sun shades all the feelings of having a heart. Here, take my pulse, take my breath, take my arms as I drift off ' Reprinted by permission of Picador from All the Names Given (2021)

from Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley 'Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened Earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?'

Set 111 July 2022

‘My name is OZYMANDIAS, King of Kings:

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

We are delighted to offer tube travellers a new summer set of poems.

The poems will circulate on London Underground and Overground trains for 4 weeks from July 18th.

Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias, inspired by the Egyptian ruins at the British Museum, marks the bicentenary of the poet’s death on July 8^th, 1822, aged 29.

Our international theme continues with famous lines by the 17^th century Dean of St Pauls, John Donne: ‘No man is an island, entire of itself…’ from meditation 17, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

Also featured: ‘Caterpillar’ by Guillaume Apollinaire, in a new version by the British poet and translator Robert Chandler. Reprinted by permission of Robert Chandler from Guillaume Apollinaire, Poems, translated by Robert Chandler (Everyman 2000)

An extract from War of the Beasts and the Animals by the dissident Russian poet Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale. Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Maria Stepanova, War of the Beasts and the Animals, trans. Sasha Dugdale (2021)

‘Ditches’ by the Irish poet Jessica Traynor. Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Pit Lullabies (2022)

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

No Man is an Island by John Donne

Caterpillar La Chenille by Guillaume Apollinaire, translated by Robert Chandler

La Chenille Caterpillar by Guillaume Apollinaire, tr Robert Chandler 'La Chenille Le travail mène à la richesse. Pauvres poètes, travaillons! La chenille en peinant sans cesse Devient le riche papillon. Caterpillar Work hard, poets, work with good cheer: Work leads to wealth and freedom from fear; And butterflies, for all their graces, Are merely caterpillars who persevere. ' Reprinted by permission of Robert Chandler from Guillaume Apollinaire, Poems, translated by Robert Chandler (Everyman 2000)

from War of the Beasts and the Animals by Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale

from War of the Beasts and the Animals by Maria Stepanova, tr. Sasha Dugdale ' on the twenty-second of june at four o’clock on the dot I won’t be listening to anything I’ll have my eyes shut I’ll bury the foreign broadcast It’s the news but I won’t lift a hand If anyone comes I’m out of the loop I’m a sparrow I’m no man’s land' Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Maria Stepanova, War of the Beasts and the Animals, trans. Sasha Dugdale (2021)

Ditches by Jessica Traynor

‘Dei Miracole’ by Lemn Sissay

Set 112 November 2022

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

We are delighted to offer tube travellers a new autumn set of poems which show how interconnected we are, to the natural world, to our families and to the wider world.

The poems will circulate on London Underground and Overground trains for 4 weeks from November 7th.

To end our celebration of the bicentenary of Shelley’s death, we feature the first stanza of his greatest poem Ode to the West Wind. Included too are Jackie Kay’s warm tribute to her parents as they set off for yet another anti-war protest and poems by four poets new to our programme, Jo Clement, Romalyn Ante, Kerry Shawn Keys and Cyril Wong.

from Ode to the West Wind by P.B. Shelley

George Square by Jackie Kay Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Darling: New & Selected Poems (2007)

Paisley by Jo Clement Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Outlandish (2022)

from Invisible Women by Romalyn Ante Reprinted by permission of Chatto & Windus from Antiemetic for Homesickness (2020)

Vesper by Kerry Shawn Keys Reprinted by permission of the author Kerry Shawn Keys (2020)

Crow by Cyril Wong Reprinted by permission of Math Paper Press from Animal Season (2020)

from Ode to the West Wind by P.B. Shelley

Ode to the West Wind by P. B. Shelley 'O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes; O Thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odours plain and hill: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear! '

George Square by Jackie Kay

Paisley by Jo Clement

from Invisible Women by Romalyn Ante

Vesper by Kerry Shawn Keys Reprinted by permission of the author Kerry Shawn Keys (2020)

Vesper for my mother by Kerry Shawn Keys ' Next to the grapes to the side of the house, the mother with the disappearing bones showed me the flowers opening at dusk, perfuming the silence. See, they unfold the dark to make music with the moths. She stepped inside. Far off, the yellowing moon crocheted its starry nightgown into her shadow.' Reprinted by permission of the author Kerry Shawn Keys ( 2020)

Crow by Cyril Wong

Set 113 February 2023

As we mark the 160^th anniversary of London Underground, a new set of Poems on the Underground goes live on London Underground and Overground cars on Monday 27 February 2023, for four weeks.

Londoners will be greeted by a favourite Shakespearean heroine, Perdita, as she welcomes the flowers of spring: ‘Daffodils, that come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty’ – from The Winter’s Tale.

Chaucer appears alongside Shakespeare in his ballad Truth (‘Flee from the press and dwell with truthfulness’) – as relevant today as it was in the 14^th century.

Four poets new to the tube are also featured, in poems of love, separation and exile:

What I know of the sea by İlhan Sami Çomak , a Kurdish poet writing from a Turkish prison, where he has been held for 29 years. His poems are translated by Caroline Stockford. ‘What I know of love is so little! Yet I’m constantly thinking of you!’

Bond by Diana Anphimiadi, a Georgian poet of Greek ancestry, translated by Natalia Bukia-Peters and Jean Sprackland: ‘When I leave, your words follow – you are mine! You know I’ll always come back.’

For My Wife, Reading in Bed by the Scottish poet John Glenday: ‘What else do we have but words and their absences / to bind and unfasten the knotwork of the heart?’

[Clearance] by the Zambian-born British poet Kayo Chingonyi, a light-hearted take on dispossession: ‘What need have we for these ornaments, old textbooks, the wedding dress you never wore?’

Poems on the Underground is supported generously by TfL, Arts Council England and The British Council.

from The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

What I know of the sea by İlhan Sami Çomak translated by Caroline Stockford

Truth by Geoffrey Chaucer

For My Wife, Reading in Bed by John Glenday

Bond by Diana Anphimiadi translated by Natalia Bukia-Peters and Jean Sprackland

Clearance by Kayo Chingonyi

Set 114 June 2023

Celebrating Windrush 75

This summer Poems on the Underground marks the 75^th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush in Britain, bringing men, women and children from the Caribbean to help rebuild a war-ravaged country.

British poetry has gained immeasurably from the contribution of Caribbean and Black British voices of the most eloquent, wide-ranging and diverse kinds, reaching the widest possible audience. We are happy to join the Windrush 75 network in celebrating our common humanity.

From June 19^th through July, London Underground and Overground cars will feature poets with close Caribbean and British links

Look out for our new set of Summer poems on London Underground and Overground trains from June 19th.

You can see our new poems for Summer 2023 here

James Berry, ‘Sea-Song One’ from Windrush Songs, in The Story I Am In: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books 2011)

John Agard, ‘Windrush Child’ (for Vince Reid, the youngest passenger on the Windrush, then aged 13), from Alternative Anthem (Bloodaxe Books 2009)

Benjamin Zephaniah, ‘The London Breed’ from Too Black, Too Strong (Bloodaxe Books 2001)

Louise Bennett, ‘Colonization in Reverse’ from Jamaica Labrish (1966)

Kei Miller, ‘The only thing far away’ from There Is an Anger that Moves (Carcanet 2007)

Grace Nichols, ‘Bourda’ from Passport to Here and There (Bloodaxe Books 2020)

James Berry, ‘Sea-Song One’ from Windrush Songs, in The Story I Am In: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books 2011)

Sea-Song One Come on Seawash of travel Expose new layers of skin Come on calm voice of sea Come and settle on land Sea’s tumble wash Change our rags for riches Come on – tumble wash of sea Clear away the bloody waters Clear away the bloody waters James Berry Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Windrush Songs, reprinted in A Story I Am In: Selected Poems (2011)

John Agard, ‘Windrush Child’ (for Vince Reid, the youngest passenger on the Empire Windrush, then aged 13), from Alternative Anthem (Bloodaxe Books 2009)

Windrush Child (for Vince Reid, at 13 the youngest passenger on the Empire Windrush) Behind you Windrush child palm trees wave goodbye above you Windrush child seabirds asking why around you Windrush child blue water rolling by beside you Windrush child your Windrush mum and dad think of storytime yard and mango mornings and new beginnings doors closing and opening John Agard Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems (2009)

Benjamin Zephaniah, ‘The London Breed’ from Too Black, Too Strong (Bloodaxe Books 2001)

The London Breed I love dis great polluted place Where pop stars come to live their dreams Here ravers come for drum and bass And politicians plan their schemes, The music of the world is here Dis city can play any song They came to here from everywhere Tis they that made dis city strong. A world of food displayed on streets Where all the world can come and dine On meals that end with bitter sweets And cultures melt and intertwine, Two hundred languages give voice To fifteen thousand changing years And all religions can rejoice With exiled souls and pioneers. Benjamin Zephaniah Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Too Black Too Strong (2001)

Louise Bennett, ‘Colonisation in Reverse’ from Jamaica Labrish (1966)

Colonization in Reverse Wat a joyful news, Miss Mattie, I feel like me heart gwine burs’ Jamaica people colonizin Englan in reverse. By de hundred, by de t’ousan From country and from town, By de ship-load, by de plane-load Jamaica is Englan bound. Dem a-pour out o’ Jamaica, Everybody future plan Is fe get a big-time job An settle in de mother lan. What a islan! What a people! Man an woman, old an young Jusa pack dem bag and baggage An tun history upside dung! Louise Bennett © Louise Bennett 1966 from Jamaica Labrish (Sangsters, 1966)

Kei Miller, ‘The only thing far away’ from There Is an Anger that Moves (Carcanet 2007)

The only thing far away In this country, Jamaica is not quite as far as you might think. Walking through Peckham in London, West Moss Road in Manchester, you pass green and yellow shops where tie-headwomen bargain over the price of dasheen. And beside Jamaica is Spain selling large yellow peppers, lemon to squeeze onto chicken. Beside Spain is Pakistan, then Egypt, Singapore, the world. . . here, strangers build home together, flood the ports with curry and papayas; in Peckham and on Moss Road, the place smells of more than just patty or tandoori. It smells like Mumbai, like Castries, like Princess Street, Jamaica. Sometimes in this country, the only thing far away is this country. Kei Miller Reprinted by permission of Carcanet from There Is an Anger That Moves (2007)

Grace Nichols, ‘Bourda’ from Passport to Here and There (Bloodaxe Books 2020)

Bourda Marvel again at the market stalls singing the earth’s abundance in the heaped-up homegrown freshness of their own vernacular favoured names. Not Aubergine but Balanjay Not Spinach but Calaloo Not Green-beans but Bora Not Chilli but Bird-pepper And not just any mango but the one crowned, Buxton Spice, Still hiding its ambrosia in the roof of my mouth, still flowering like the bird-picked mornings on the branches of my memory. Grace Nichols Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Passport to Here and There (2020)

Set 115 autumn 2023

New Poems on the Underground Autumn 2023

We are delighted to offer tube travellers a new autumn set of Poems on the Underground with poems by Seamus Heaney, Garous Abdolmalekian tr. Idra Novey & Ahmad Nadalizadeh, Anthony Joseph, Helen Ivory, Charles Simic and Karl Shapiro.

Look out for the new set of Poems on the Underground on London Underground and Overground trains from 26^th October

Axe by Anthony Joseph Reprinted by permission of Bloomsbury from Sonnets for Albert (2022)

Anthony Joseph is a Trinidad-born poet, novelist, academic and musician. His Sonnets for Albert is the winner of the 2023 T S Eliot Prize.

Axe by Anthony Joseph My father, God bless his axe. He grooved deep in pitch pine. He spun his charm like bachelor galvanise in hurricane. Once I saw him peep through torrential rain like a saint at a killing. And when the wind broke his cassava trees, and the water overcame his eight-track machine, and his clothes were swept away in the flood, his Hail Mary fell upon a fortress of bone. So he crossed his chest with appointed finger and hissed a prayer in glossolalic verse. He may grand-charge and growl but he woundeth not, nor cursed the storm that Papa God send to wash away the wish of him and every dream he built. Anthony Joseph Reprinted by permission of Bloomsbury from Sonnets for Albert (2022)

In a Loaning by Seamus Heaney Reprinted by permission of Faber from District and Circle (2006)

‘It delights me that ‘The Loaning’ might work for you. It’s a strange wee thing, which is why I trust it, but it might be, for the travellers, ‘a puzzle-the-world.’ (Seamus Heaney writing about ‘In a Loaning’, which he wrote when recovering from a stroke).

In a Loaning by Seamus Heaney Spoken for in autumn, recovered speech Having its way again, I gave a cry: ‘Not beechen green, but these shin-deep coffers Of copper-fired leaves, these beech boles grey.’ Seamus Heaney Reprinted by permission of Faber from District and Circle (2006) Loaning: a lane (Ulster-Scots) boles: tree trunks

from Elegy for a Dead Soldier by Karl Shapiro

Reprinted by permission of University of Illinois Press from The Wild Card: Selected Poems, Early and Late (1998)

Karl Shapiro was an American Poet laureate and won a number of major poetry awards in the 1940s, including the Pulitzer Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, an Academy of Arts and Letters Grant, and the Contemporary Poetry Prize

from Elegy for a Dead Soldier by Karl Shapiro We ask for no statistics of the killed, For nothing political impinges on This single casualty, or all those gone, Missing or healing, sinking or dispersed, Hundreds of thousands counted, millions lost. More than an accident and less than willed Is every fall, and this one like the rest. However others calculate the cost, To us the final aggregate is one, One with a name, one transferred to the blest; And though another stoops and takes the gun, We cannot add the second to the first. Karl Shapiro Reprinted by permission of University of Illinois Press from The Wild Card: Selected Poems, Early and Late (1998)

Long Exposure by Garous Abdolmalekian Translated from Persian by Idra Novey & Ahmad Nadalizadeh Reprinted by permission of Penguin from Lean Against This Late Hour (2020).

Garous Abdolmalekian is an Iranian poet living in Tehran. He is the author of five poetry books and the recipient of the Karnameh Poetry Book of the Year Award and the Iranian Youth Poetry Book Prize

Long Exposure by Garous Abdolmalekian Translated from Persian by Idra Novey & Ahmad Nadalizadeh Even after letting go of the last bird I hesitate There is something in this empty cage that never gets released Garous Abdolmalekian Translated from Persian by Idra Novey & Ahmad Nadalizadeh Reprinted by permission of Penguin from Lean Against This Late Hour (2020)

The Square of the Clockmaker by Helen Ivory Reprinted by permission of SurVision from Maps of the Abandoned City, SurVision Books (2019)

Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist, the author of five books of poetry, most recently The Anatomical Venus.

The Square of the Clockmaker by Helen Ivory When the last train left, the tunnel rolled the train track back into its mouth and slept. Clocks unhitched themselves from the made-up world of timetables and opened wide their arms. And in the square of the clockmaker a century of clocks turned their faces to the sun. Helen Ivory Reprinted by permission of SurVision Books From Maps of the Abandoned City (2019)

Empires by Charles Simic Reprinted by permission of Faber from Selected Poems 1963-2003 (2004)

Charles Simic (1938-2023) was a distinguished Serbian-American poet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN International prize for translation. Seamus Heaney said of his writing that it “comes dancing out on the balls of its feet, colloquially fit as a fiddle, a sparring partner for the world” – a poem in itself.

Empires by Charles Simic My grandmother prophesied the end Of your empires, O fools! She was ironing. The radio was on. The earth trembled beneath our feet. One of your heroes was giving a speech. ‘Monster,’ she called him. There were cheers and gun salutes for the monster. ‘I could kill him with my bare hands,’ She announced to me. There was no need to. They were all Going to the devil any day now. ‘Don’t go blabbering about this to anyone,’ She warned me. And pulled my ear to make sure I understood. Charles Simic Reprinted by permission of Faber from Selected Poems 1963-2003 (2004)

New spring Poems on the Underground

Set 116 Spring poems on the Underground February 2024

Our first set of Poems on the Underground in 2024 goes live on London Underground and Overground cars from 26 February throughout March. As Spring approaches, the common theme is LOVE — of persons and places, welcomed, scorned, remembered, rediscovered. We’re also marking the bicentenary of Lord Byron, the great Romantic poet who died in Missolonghi in 1824. Emily Bronte, another free spirit, is also featured.

Lord Byron, from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

‘I have not loved the world, nor the world me…’

Emily Bronte, Riches I hold in light esteem

‘Riches I hold in light esteem / And Love I laugh to scorn…’ Byron’s character also marks Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights.

Marjorie Lotfi, Packing for America (my father in Tabriz, 1960)

‘He can’t take his mother in the suitcase…’

Marjorie Lotfi, born in New Orleans to an Iranian father and American mother; now lives in Edinburgh. Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from The Wrong Person to Ask (2023)

Packing for America My Father in Tabriz , 1960 by Marjorie Lotfi He cannot take his mother in the suitcase, the smell of khorest in the air, her spice box too tall to fit. Nor will it close when he folds her sajadah into its cornered edges. He cannot bring the way she rose and blew out the candles at supper’s end, rolled the oilcloth off the carpet to mark the laying out of beds, the beginning of night. He knows the sound of the slap of her sandals across the kitchen tiles will fade. He tosses the framed photographs into the case, though not one shows her eyes; instead, she covers her mouth with her hand as taught, looks away. He considers strapping the samovar to his back like a child’s bag; a lifetime measured by pouring tea from its belly. Finally, he takes the tulip tea glass from her bedside table, winds her chador around its body, leaves the gold rim peeking out like a mouth that might tell him where to go, what is coming next.

The Weight of the World by Seni Seneviratne

‘Oh, how they blew like vast sails in the breeze, / my mother’s wet sheets . . .’

Seni Seneviratne draws widely on her English and Sri Lankan heritage in her poems.

Reprinted by permission of Peepal Tree Press from Unknown Soldier (2019)

The Weight of the World by Seni Seneviratne Oh, how they blew like vast sails in the breeze, my mother’s wet sheets, pegged hard to the rope of her washing line. There was always hope of dry weather and no need for a please or thanks between us as we hauled them down. Whether to make the fold from right to left or left to right, to tame the restless heft? My job to know. I won’t call it a dance but there were steps to learn and cues to read, the give and take of fabric passed like batons in a relay race. She was my due north. Her right hand set west, mine tracing the east, we closed the distance, calmed the wayward weight, bringing order to the billowing world.

Bridled Vows by Ian Duhig

‘I will be faithful to you, I do vow, /but not until the seas have all run dry…’

Ian Duhig, an award-winning poet of great range and diversity, was born in London to Irish parents, the 8^th of 11 children. Reprinted from New and Selected Poems (Picador 2021)

Robert Bly, The Teapot

‘That morning I heard water being poured into a teapot…’

The American poet Robert Bly was a political activist, founder of ‘American Writers against the Vietnam War’ as well as a much-loved writer of prose and poetry. ‘The Teapot’ was published in Talking into the Ear of a Donkey, Copyright © 2011 by Robert Bly. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc. on behalf of the author’s estate.

Set 117 Summer Poems on the Underground, June 2024

Our summer Poems on the Underground go live on London Underground and Overground cars on Monday June 3^rdfor four weeks. We are delighted to welcome the joys of summer and its special music with a truly international set of poems: a tribute to the great American jazz greats by the Ghanaian-British poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes; a 13^th-century round, also known as the Cuckoo Song; a love poem by Azita Ghahreman, an Iranian poet writing in Persian; Don Paterson’s version of a sonnet to Orpheus by the great Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke; A E Housman’s lament from A Shropshire lad; and an extract from the late Benjamin Zephaniah’s celebration of our common origins as ‘refugees’.

The poems:

A Glimpse by Azita Ghahreman, translated from the Persian by Elhum Shakerifar and Maura Dooley Reprinted with permission from Negative of a Group Photograph (Poetry Translation Centre / Bloodaxe Books, 2018)

from We Refugees by Benjamin Zephaniah Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books from Wicked World (Puffin, 2000).

By Yourself, Boy. . . (1988-2007) by Nii Ayikwei Parkes Reprinted by permission of Peepal Tree Press from The Makings of You(2010)

The Isle of Portland by A.E. Housman, from A Shropshire Lad

‘Sumer is icumen in’ Anon 13 Century Music manuscript by permission of The British Library Board, BL Harley 978f.1.1v

Taste by Don Paterson Reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber from Orpheus: A Version of Rilke’s ‘Die Sonette an Orpheus’ (2006)

A Glimpse by Azita Ghahreman, translated from the Persian by Elhum Shakerifar and Maura Dooley

A Glimpse So caught up in our conversation that darkness fell and covered us with large damp wings and not a single light showed in that blue hour where we stood grown-up children held for a moment, astonished, watching a paper boat as the water swallowed it. Azita Ghahreman, translated from the Persian by Elhum Shakerifar and Maura Dooley Reprinted with permission from Negative of a Group Photograph (The Poetry Translation Centre / Bloodaxe Books, 2018)

A Glimpse read in Persian by Azita Ghahreman

A Glimpse by Azita Ghahreman read by Maura Dooley

from We Refugees by Benjamin Zephaniah

from We Refugees We can all be refugees Sometimes it only takes a day, Sometimes it only takes a handshake Or a paper that is signed. We all came from refugees Nobody simply just appeared, Nobody’s here without a struggle, And why should we live in fear Of the weather or the troubles? We all came here from somewhere Benjamin Zephaniah from We Refugees Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Limited from Wicked World (Puffin, 2000).

By Yourself, Boy. . . (1988-2007) by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

By Yourself, Boy. . . (1988-2007) Nat King Cole’s on the TV staring hard at his audience, his hands setting up plays while he sings. Ray Charles said he sang so damn well people forgot how good he was on keys, and I see it now; his right hand stuffs a melody down the grand piano’s throat – that’s the fake – he dribbles the sound down to low notes until you expect the left hand to come in lower. That’s when he breaks mould, hustles his left hand over the right, throws high notes into your ear -crossover, up, swish. Now the trash talk it’s better to be by yourself boy… He smiles like the silent men on my tapes and, suddenly, every move has a name, a sound, a history. Nii Ayikwei Parkes Reprinted by permission of Peepal Tree Press from The Makings of You (2010)

By Yourself Boy…. read by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

The Isle of Portland by A.E. Housman

The Isle of Portland The star-filled seas are smooth to-night From France to England strown; Black towers above the Portland light The felon-quarried stone. On yonder island, not to rise, Never to stir forth free, Far from his folk a dead lad lies That once was friends with me. Lie you easy, dream you light, And sleep you fast for aye;, And luckier may you find the night Than ever you found the day. . A. E. Housman

The Isle of Portland by A.E. Housman read by Maura Dooley

‘Sumer is icumen in’ Anon

‘Sumer is icumen in’ Sumer is icumen in Loud sing cuckoo! Groweth seed and bloweth mead And springeth the wood now, Sing cuckoo! Ewe bleateth after lamb, Cow loweth after calf, Bullock starteth, buck farteth, Merry sing cuckoo! Cuckoo, cuckoo! Well singest thou cuckoo, Nor cease thou never now! Sing cuckoo now, sing cuckoo! Sing cuckoo, sing cuckoo now! Anon (13th century) Music manuscript by permission of The British Library Board, BL Harley 978f.1.1v

Taste by Don Paterson

Taste Gooseberry, banana, pear and apple, all the ripenesses . . . Read it in the child’s face: the life-and-death the tongue hears as she eats . . . This comes from far away. What is happening to your mouth? Where there were words, discovery flows, all shocked out of the pith – What we call apple . . . Do you dare give it a name? This sweet-shop fire rising in the taste, to grow clarified, awake, twin-sensed, of the sun and earth, the here and the now – the sensual joy, the whole Immense! Don Paterson Reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber from Orpheus: A Version of Rilke’s ‘Die Sonette an Orpheus’ (2006)

Set 118 Autumn Poems on the Underground, October 2024

Our autumn Poems on the Underground go live on London Underground and Overground cars on Monday, October 21st^,for four weeks. Fleur Adcock (1934-2024) celebrated her 90th birthday in February with the publication of her Collected Poems. Her poem Immigrant was one of the earliest Poems on the Underground in 1987 and we are pleased to have her poem Dragonfly in our autumn Poems on the Underground

We are delighted to include poems by Foyle Young Poets Arthur Lawson and Dawn Sands, as well as international poems by the late American writer Raymond Carver, the South African poet Gabeba Baderoon, and the great Russian poet Osip Mandelstam.

The poems:

Dragonfly by Fleur Adcock Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Collected Poems (2024)

Late Fragment by Raymond Carver Reprinted by permission of Vintage from All of Us: Collected Poems (1997)

Goldfinch, friend, I’ll cock my head— by Osip Mandelstam, translated from the Russian by Andrew Davis Reprinted by permission of New York Review Books from Osip Mandelstam, Voronezh Notebooks (2016). The Voronezh Notebooks were written in exile between 1935 and 1937. Mandelstam died in 1938, sentenced to hard labour for writing anti-Stalin poems.

Always for the First Time by Gabeba Baderoon Reproduced with the permission of Kwela, an imprint of NB Publishers from The Dream in the Next Body (2005)

Anglerfish by Arthur Lawson. Arthur is a 19-year-old poet from Northamptonshire. In 2023, Arthur was commended in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

Epilogue by Dawn Sands. Dawn is a 17-year-old poet from Portsmouth. In 2023, Dawn was a winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award.

Dragonfly by Fleur Adcock

Late Fragment by Raymond Carver

Goldfinch, friend, I’ll cock my head— by Osip Mandelstam, translated from the Russian by Andrew Davis

Always for the First Time by Gabeba Baderoon

Anglerfish by Arthur Lawson

anglerfish by Artur Lawson this is the midnight zone where you could float for a lifetime in blue and never even realise you’d been born, not recognising your form or any other, or contemplating breath in this perfect improbable silence – this crushing expanse where everything is bright and dim and possible Young Poets on the Underground

Epilogue by Dawn Sands

Set 119 Spring Poems on the Underground February 2025

‘O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?’

On 24^th February, the latest series of Poems on the Underground will be launched on London Underground and Overground trains. The poems are a strongly international set, with poems by the dissident Chinese poet Bei Dao, the Indian poet Sujata Bhatt, and the Chinese-American poet Li-Young Lee. Also featured are the Scottish poet Niall Campbell and the Foyle Young Poet Lewis Corry, alongside the great 17th century religious poet George Herbert. The poems share common themes as they celebrate new life and the renewal of nature as spring returns.

The poems:

Love by George Herbert

February Morning by Niall Campbell Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Noctuary (2019)

Ther is No Rose of Swych Virtu by Sujata Bhatt Reprinted by permission of Carcanet from Collected Poems (2013)

2013, and Daedalus never moved away for work by Lewis Corry, Foyle Young Poets

from Sidetracks by Bei Dao, translated by Jeffrey Yang

from Sidetracks I am you a stranger on the sidetracks waiting for the season to harvest blades of light sending letters though tomorrow has no address Bei Dao translated by Jeffrey Yang Reprinted by permission of Carcanet from Sidetracks (2024) Text copyright © Zhao Zhenkai 2024 Translation copyright © Jeffrey Yang 2024

One Heart by Li-Young Lee

One Heart Look at the birds. Even flying is born out of nothing. The first sky is inside you, open at either end of day. The work of wings was always freedom, fastening one heart to every falling thing. Li-Young Lee from Book of My Nights. Copyright © 2001 by Li-Young Lee. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of BOA Editions, Ltd. boaeditions.org

Love by George Herbert

Love LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lack’d anything. ‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’ Love said, ‘You shall be he.’ ‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on Thee.’ Love took my hand and smiling did reply, ‘Who made the eyes but I?’ ‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve.’ ‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’ ‘My dear, then I will serve.’ ‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’ So I did sit and eat. George Herbert

February Morning by Niall Campbell

February Morning The winter light was still to hit the window, and all my other selves were still asleep, when, standing with this child in all our bareness, I found that I was a ruined bridge, or one that stood so long half-built and incomplete; at other times I’d been a swinging gate, a freed skiff – then his head dropped in the groove of my neck, true as a keystone, and I fixed: all stone and good use, two shores with one crossing. The morning broke, I kissed his head, and stood. Niall Campbell Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Noctuary (2019)

Ther is No Rose of Swych Virtu by Sujata Bhatt

Ther is No Rose of Swych Virtu Ther is no rose of swych virtu as is the rose that bar Jhesu -- 15th century, anon. An old gardener plants a rosary of garlic around the rosebushes. And the sun on the high windows makes the song softer, softer – a hum in his ears: ther is no rose of swych virtu . . . while the odours from the dug up earth cling to the air – and the wind leaves no boundaries between the scent of roses and the scent of garlic. Sujata Bhatt Reprinted by permission of Carcanet from Collected Poems (2013)

2013, and Daedalus never moved away for work by Lewis Corry

2013, and Daedalus never moved away for work bike-strung boy sun-licked spark of rubber and steel you soar down the driveway arms spread like wings it is a wonderful thing to fly and there is no greater occasion than being alive Lewis Corry Young Poets on the Underground

Set 120 summer Poems on the Underground June 2025

The summer Poems on the Underground go live on Underground and Overground trains on June 2^nd

Our summer poems are an international set linked by common themes with universal appeal. All six poems address the relationship of human life to the natural world, as it unfolds in ‘sea and sky and trees’. A Young Poet on the Underground, Anna Gilmore Heezen, observes a housefly in August heat; the British-Nigerian poet Dr. Gboyega Odubanjo rewrites Genesis for modern times, the South Korean poet Jeongrye Choi is lost in a forest. Tube travellers can imagine Shakespeare’s ‘wild thyme and luscious woodbine, sweet musk-roses and eglantine’; the Chinese poet Po Chui-i’s ‘peach-tree blossom’, and the smell of oranges as recalled by the Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha.

The Poems are:

Pane by Anna Gilmore Heezen Young Poets on the Underground

Genesis by Dr. Gboyega Odubanjo Reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber from Adam (2024) © The Estate of Gboyega Odubanjo, 2024

Daughter by Mosab Abu Toha Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins from Forest of Noise (4^th Estate 2024)

Forest by Jeongrye Choi Reprinted by permission of Parlor Press from Instances: Selected Poems translated by Brenda Hillman, Wayne de Fremery and Jeongrye Choi (2011)

from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

The Red Cockatoo by Po Chu-I Translated by Arthur Waley Reprinted by permission of Estate of Arthur Waley. Calligraphy by Qu Lei Lei

Daughter by Mosab Abu Toha