The Poetry Project at The Sidings

You might have noticed some brand new poems located inside The Sidings. We were delighted when James McInerney, the creative mind behind the Poetry Project, reached out to us and asked if we would be interested in getting involved – I mean, a poet who has built quite a reputation for himself wanted us to display his poems for free, what’s not to like!

If you haven’t heard about the Poetry Project, chances are you’ve seen its impact. Created by James in 2018 after he was inspired by seeing a few quotes from authors on information boards on the tube network, he wondered about the possibility of adding poems as well.

Very soon, inspiring poems were starting to appear all over the train network, with many stations more than happy to get involved. Since those early days, the goal of the project has been to open people’s eyes to poetry and give them pause to stop and think.

The Poetry Project is a free-to-use project that is all about having positive, empowering, and motivational messages on display in public areas to promote well-being and raise awareness of mental health issues. 

These poems can now be found at the city’s airports, over 30 shopping centres across the country, as well as lots of rail and underground stations. We are delighted to add The Sidings to this vast list of places.

The secret to the success of the project? We think it comes from the genuineness of James’ motivation. He wants people to see positive messages to improve their mental health, spread the visibility & power of poetry and he doesn’t charge a penny for any of it!

James has hundreds of poems to choose from, so why did we pick these specific ones? We felt those now on display act perfectly as positive daily reminders as people are rushing by and remind people to stop and take a minute to check in with themselves. 

If you see these poems when visiting us, please take a picture and tag us and the poetry project on your social media accounts. We absolutely love seeing your content and we know James really appreciates it when people share his work too.

To learn more about The Poetry Project, visit the website or follow James on Instagram. 

To see what’s coming next at The Sidings, follow us on our socials, we have a lot of exciting new things happening in 2023.

Instagram: @sidingswaterloo

Facebook: @thesidingswaterloo

Twitter: @sidingswaterloo