Poetry Clears Up On Piggy Path
A quick update on IoW poets and the way they’re putting their words to some down-to-earth uses:
A few weeks ago Clea Barton of Oakfield, Ryde told us how she had got sick of encountering all the dog’s mess around the Oakfield Arc play area, so she wrote a poem about it and nailed it up on one of the fence posts along the fence. Her direct action seemed to have a real effect and a few days later the path was nearly clear.
We thought it would be interesting to test more scientifically Clea’s hypothesis that poetry can have an impact on dog poo, or at least the dogs owners’ willingness to clear it up, so we commissioned her to pick another fouled path in her area and monitor the effect over 12 days of putting up anti-poo poems (poo-ems as Clea calls them).
Below are the results - I think they’re quite remarkable.
As the perennial issue of fouled footpaths seems to dog almost every local council meeting, Clea’s research might be worth serious consideration where other measures have failed. More broadly, it’s interesting to note that poetry can be a good way of communicating even very mundane messages which people otherwise ignore.
Why would this be?
A quick update on IoW poets and the way they’re putting their words to some down-to-earth uses:
A few weeks ago Clea Barton of Oakfield, Ryde told us how she had got sick of encountering all the dog’s mess around the Oakfield Arc play area, so she wrote a poem about it and nailed it up on one of the fence posts along the fence. Her direct action seemed to have a real effect and a few days later the path was nearly clear.
We thought it would be interesting to test more scientifically Clea’s hypothesis that poetry can have an impact on dog poo, or at least the dogs owners’ willingness to clear it up, so we commissioned her to pick another fouled path in her area and monitor the effect over 12 days of putting up anti-poo poems (poo-ems as Clea calls them).
Below are the results - I think they’re quite remarkable.
As the perennial issue of fouled footpaths seems to dog almost every local council meeting, Clea’s research might be worth serious consideration where other measures have failed. More broadly, it’s interesting to note that poetry can be a good way of communicating even very mundane messages which people otherwise ignore.
Why would this be?
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April 7th, 2008 at 10:04 am
This is a first-class idea - I’d be more than willing to give it further support for development! See this very similar exercise identified by Tina Williamson
http://naturenet.net/blogs/index.php/2008/03/14/poo_please
April 7th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Oh, and can we see more of the poo-ems please? And I’d also like to point out that the Arc is nothing to do with me - except as a user!
April 13th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Yes - I agree. Clea’s doing a good job. I think her verses must speak for a lot of people. I followed your link -good to see she’s not the only one putting felt-tip to paper in the battle against the turds!
April 13th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
P.s. Clea went for the direct accessible style for her poetic plea to keep the children’s play area clean - here’s an example.
Whatever are we going to do?
Our lovely lane’s all full of poo!
Don’t be so selfish
Take it away
Let our children
Safely play!
Clea’s poems are usually illustrated with original sketches or paintings. If you want to read more about
her ideas/actions take a look in the County Press - I think there’s going to be an article on it this week.