We've all scoffed down a takeaway burger when feeling refreshed – but what about a takeaway poem? Nancy Groves catches up with the creators of Poetry Takeaway, an IdeasTap-funded project that will be serving out bespoke poems at a festival near you...
Like many English Literature undergrads, I almost certainly consumed more fast food at university than I ever did poetry.
What we used to call the Jason Doner Van (didn’t everyone?) would pull up outside the local student dive each night, courteously catering for my post-cheese cravings with more of the same, slapped between burger, bap and limp leaf of lettuce. It wasn’t strictly nutritional, but it was quick, cheap and comforting – the holy trinity of student needs.
So imagine my excitement on hearing about The Poetry Takeaway, the latest project from the Show+Tell stable and an IdeasTap Innovators winner to boot. Brainchild of poet Tim Clare and producer Tom Searle, this converted burger trailer is visiting festivals countrywide this summer cooking up free, made-to-order poems from poetry chefs including Joe Dunthorne, Luke Wright and Molly Naylor. Not since S Club 7 last blared from Mr Wedge’s decks have I been this excited about a man in a van.
Keen to sample, I try the takeaway on its brief stop at Stoke Newington International Airport before it parks up at the South Bank’s London Literature Festival this weekend. Gleaming red, blue and silver in the sun like some kind of sputnik, it certainly looks the part, as do Clare and his fellow poet, Tim Wells, sitting behind the counter in aprons more creased than greased – for now.
All the other burger van accoutrements are here: the pickle jar, the family portraits, plus a typewriter, thesaurus and rhyming dictionary. No sooner have I introduced myself than Wells is penning a preliminary effort: “Nancy,/boys,/it’s never going to be easy.” He’s got me in one.
But as my designated chef, it’s Clare who takes my order and after a brief discussion, we’re decided: one non-wedding wedding poem coming up. For every Father’s Day request, as many customers go off-menu, say the Tims, who are turning round up to 50 orders a day. And having become the go-to wedding reader at friends’ nuptials lately – most recently braving the euphemistic minefield of The Owl and the Pussycat – I quite fancy a poem all to myself. Clare nods, scribbles some notes, then gestures to a bench where I wait the 10 minutes it takes for my fish to be fried.
Originally inspired by the Chip Shop, a pop-up installation from the Henningham Family Press that screen-prints individual words onto chipboard while-you-wait, The Poetry Takeaway goes one step further, aiming to make poetry itself a more palatable and interactive experience for all. Clare first set up shop at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe where he found people hungry for takeaway verse, but his makeshift table on the Royal Mile neither photogenic nor weatherproof.
Roll up the trailer, bought on eBay for £950 – a steal, says Tom Searle, who then enlisted designers Niall Gallagher (House of Jonn), Nicola Read (815 Agency) and Ellen Turnill-Montoya (Ellen TM) to spruce it up. Together, they have turned a good idea into a great one thanks to meticulous attention to detail, right down to the takeaway sachets in which your poem is served – open or wrapped – after an informal performance by the poet. Clare is waving mine in readiness now.
I’d reproduce it here but that would defeat the point of what’s at heart a one-to-one experience. Suffice it to say, it’s a strange but delicious treat and may yet be on the menu at my real wedding one day.
I urge you to seek out the van for yourselves as it tours festivals from the literary (Port Eliot) to the musical (End of the Road), not to mention Edinburgh, where it will be parked in Bristo Square throughout August.
No need for flyers – like all the best takeaways, I suspect this one will be a word-of-mouth success.
The Poetry Takeaway is at London’s Southbank Centre on 2 and 3 July, 11am to 4pm. See the website for later dates.