Poetry on the platforms

Poet Claire Lynn is delighted to see her work on display

A poetic touch has been added to the journeys of commuters travelling via one North East metro station.

Hundreds of poets vied for the opportunity to display their words at a busy station in Newcastle.

Transport company Nexus launched a journey-themed National Poetry Day competition in October, with four winning entries now prominently displayed on platforms at Longbenton station.

Overall winner Claire Lynn said she was thrilled to see her 'Crossing to Lindisfarne' poem unveiled earlier this week.

Judge and manager of the Poetry Book Society, Alice Mullen, said Ms Lynn's poem was "a real celebration of journeying into our local landscape".

She said she hoped the poems on display would inspire travellers to read and write more poetry.

Poetry has had a role at Longbenton station since 2021, when pandemic-inspired poetry was displayed.

Huw Lewis, Nexus customer services director, said: "Placing art and poetry in public places like train stations, where people don’t expect to see it, is a great way of introducing it to the public."

Crossing to Lindisfarne

Claire Lynn's poem was inspired by her own journey to Lindisfarne:

Light glances off the water,

the birds. Not enough wind

for this keening, eerily

riding the breeze

Wellied in mud, we plodge

the Pilgrims' Way barefoot

listening like sailors with wax-stopped ears

for notes we can't quite hear

It's not the sea emptying

something out of us - rinsed

clean as shells, we're filled

with the echoes of rising tides

as the water slips away, casting up seals

to sing on pebbled shores.