Poetry for Purer Air by Simon Armitage

The carefully crafted words of British poet Simon Armitage feature in an eye-catching (and air-sucking) installation at the University of Sheffield. His poem, ‘In Praise of Air’, is printed onto material which has been coated with microscopic particles and will absorb the pollution from 20 cars each day.

“If every banner, flag or advertising poster in the country did this, we’d have much better air quality,” says Simon. “It would add less than £100 to the cost of a poster and would turn advertisements into catalysts in more ways than one. The countless thousands of poster sites that are selling us cars beside our roads could be cleaning up emissions at the same time.”

Seeing inspiring non-digital interventions like this really is a breath of fresh air.

Here is the full piece:

In Praise of Air by Simon Armitage
I write in praise of air. I was six or five
when a conjurer opened my knotted fist
and I held in my palm the whole of the sky.
I’ve carried it with me ever since.

Let air be a major god, its being
and touch, its breast-milk always tilted
to the lips. Both dragonfly and Boeing
dangle in its see-through nothingness…

Among the jumbled bric-a-brac I keep
a padlocked treasure-chest of empty space,
and on days when thoughts are fuddled with smog
or civilization crosses the street

with a white handkerchief over its mouth
and cars blow kisses to our lips from theirs
I turn the key, throw back the lid, breathe deep.
My first word, everyone’s first word, was air.

via The Guardian