Some emergencies require a response that involves a poem about how well drinking water pairs with an ice cream sandwich.
That’s one of the poems you might hear if you call Hamilton’s new poetry hotline.
Anyone who calls 365-675-3282 can access a directory hosting recordings of poems written and performed by local writers. You might come across the one about the sound of two birds on a metal roof.
The project was put together by Monday Press, a group of writers and creatives who approached local poets to contribute their work to the hotline.
Matt Moreland, one of the co-founders of Monday Press, said the project aims to have an approachable way for somebody to interact with Hamilton’s poetry community and to expand the audience to people who don’t normally go to poetry readings.
“In most cases, like if you’re going to hear a poet perform, you have to know when they have an event or a reading and like go to the thing,” he said.
By calling the hotline, people can instead experience local art in their own time, which Moreland said makes it more approachable.
Moreland said the idea originated from an art project from the 1960s called “dial-a-poem” by New York-based poet John Giorno. That hotline hosted 700 poems by 55 poets and included Black Panther poets and queer erotic poetry. The project drew thousands of calls and as Moreland pointed out, drew the attention of the FBI which investigated it for subversive or anti-government content.
Moreland added that contributors were not given any sort of stipulations as to the poems they could perform.
“We wanted it to really feel random, that you really don’t know what you’re going to get,” he said.
“You could call in and get a poem that’s about love, and then you could call back and get a poem that’s about something political. You could call back and get a poem that’s about depression. It really does play to the randomization.”
Poems from Hamilton’s 1st Poet in Place
One of the contributors to the project is Lishai Peel, the inaugural Poet in Place for the city of Hamilton. She contributed three poems to the project. One poem, Ode to Dance, is about the importance of movement and dance.
Another poem, Pantoum for Words, is about the act of storytelling and bringing words into the world.
Peel said she’s paid attention to Monday Press’s work and the role it plays in the city’s arts community.
“A lot of people in the city generally, I think, have this idea of poetry as being something that’s studied in school… or just not necessarily accessible to the average everyday person,” she said.
“But I think what Monday Press is doing in this project is saying, ‘Hey, poetry is for you and for you and for you, and it’s for all of us.'”
The group also got funding to advertise the hotline number on a large billboard in the city. The hotline went online in June and received over a thousand calls on the first day, Moreland said.
Moreland said the group plans to keep the hotline going for the foreseeable future. He said it will continue in its current form for the next three to six months. Afterwards, the group is considering ways to update the project, like new poems into the directory.
In addition to the hotline, Monday Press runs a pop-up poetry series in different laundromats called Dirty Laundry. It is also doing a fringe show called Scheduled Maintenance that runs from July 18 to 21 at the Hamilton Theatre Inc.
Fresh Air9:48Poetry Hotline: Thanks to a Hamilton writers’ collective, poems are only a phone call away.
Free poetry — just by picking up the phone.A group of writers in Hamilton called Monday Press have launched a free poetry hotline for anyone in the world to access.The number to call is (365) 675-3282.We spoke with one of the co-founders behind the project, Matt Moreland.