Bring out the poet inside you!
Do you remember when a few years ago we woke up in a Madrid more human, more poet? Do you remember that you started looking at the ground to see if you found verses on the street? Underground poetry took the zebra crossings, causing pangs of emotion to make their way between the stress and speed that usually mark our days.
Those verses that surprised us while we were running from here to there with the first coffee in the morning still burning in our throats or while taking the bus distracted thinking about our things we owe to the artistic collective ** Boa Mistura , the same as with the City Council of Madrid has launched _ Versos al paso _,** the initiative with which they intend fill 1,100 zebra crossings distributed throughout the 21 districts of the city with poetry, multiplying the effect they achieved years ago and this time involving the inhabitants of the city.
And it is that of those 1,100 verses, 700 will be poetic creations typical of the people of Madrid that they can send Until 7 September through the project website. To select the ones that finally take shape on the asphalt of Madrid, Boa Mistura will create a committee made up of between six and 12 writers, editors, journalists, poets and professionals related to the world of books.
The 400 remaining will be borne by writers, singer-songwriters and artists from different disciplines who will give away their creations to the city at the request of the City Council's Department of Culture and Sports.
Versos al paso is open to anyone who wishes to participate, regardless of their age or origin. You can send as many phrases or poetic reflections as you want, as long as, they are of their own authorship and original; and are between 15 and 80 characters with spaces. The language will not be an impediment: you can choose the one you prefer and, if it is not Spanish, include a translation in the space reserved for it in the submission form.
More than 1,000 zebra crossings will be given to poetry
Already in the fall, Boa Mistura will assign the selected verses to each pedestrian crossing and begin their writing. The objective is that in November Madrid's asphalt looks a little less black and much kinder. It will be then, when your name or pseudonym appears next to your verses if they are among those selected.
Versos al paso wants us to build the city together, but a city that remembers the importance and value that writing and poetic reading have in our lives; a city where the act of walking, conscious walking, is increasingly present; a city, in short, in which the people, the pedestrians, recover the urban environment.
What if we stop walking with automatic passage and shotguns? What if we walk contemplating what we see and let these verses clothe us?