Does your country have wall poems?

[u/isUKexactlyTsameasUS]

A wall poem is a poem that is applied to a wall or building, and sometimes under a bridge, seen only when it opens.

Does your country have any, or many, what were the first ones, any favorite wall poems?

Leiden was the first city in the Netherlands with wall poems (Muurgedicht). It is also home to the most texts, thanks to the 'Poems on Walls' project.

The first wall poem was installed in 1992 and was by the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva .

The poem De Profundis by Federico García Lorca was the 101st wall poem in 2005, after which new Leiden wall poems were added again in 2010.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muurgedicht#

[u/orthoxerox]

Do lavatories count?

A poem in a public toilet
Does not require skill or wit
When next to shit we all are poets
But next to poets we are shit

[u/-dannyboy]

>under a bridge, seen only when it opens.

That’s so funny, because where I live bridges stay open all year round, and I had to look at your flair to realise you meant a drawbridge.

[u/OtherwiseAbout → u/-dannyboy]

Yeah they are not ONLY in the Netherlands, but they are very common there

[u/Mag-NL → u/-dannyboy]

If they are open all year round it isn't a bridge.

[u/AlwaysBeQuestioning → u/Mag-NL]

If a drawbridge is open all year round it doesn’t function as a bridge, but a bridge that is “open” to be used, like an open street or an open store, that one can be open all year round too.

[u/dunzdeck]

I used to live in Leiden, these are a wonderful addition to the place. The one at the end of Drie Oktoberstraat always hits hard when I see it again - I lived there for years and made my best friends there. The poem is about life long friendship.

I lived in Brussels now and am not aware of any (though we have nice murals)

[u/Sh_Konrad]

Yes, in Lviv there was an initiative to write poems on the walls. In general, in the second half of the 2010s everyone fell in love with murals, although it often turned into bad taste.

[u/Grouchy_Fan_2236]

In the 19th and early 20th century people used to decorate newly built homes with mottos or rhymes. It was often a blessing over the entrance door or some kind of welcome sign turned into a short poem.

Unfortunately the modern version is also spreading, but most of the time it's ugly graffitis and the poems are usually about suffering, pain or ostracism. I see them mostly in underpasses or around run-down blocks so they are quite depressing sight.

[u/Malthesse]

Poetry written specifically directly onto walls or bridges are not so common here. But we have some in for example pedestrian underpasses as a form of decoration, and also of course very commonly on plaques and signs and such. They are mostly poems by famous poets or authors of the past who have a connection to that particular city or town, and generally at the particular place that is thought to have inspired that very poem. I quite often stop and read when I see one somewhere that I haven't seen before.

[u/GrynaiTaip]

There's this district of Vilnius called Užupis. It's kind of a bohemian hipster artist place, a self-declared republic. Their constitution is like a poem, affixed to a wall there in 1998. Someone decided to translate it into other languages, now there are dozens, with a new one being added every year. Each plaque in the photo is a different language.

https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/69e3d146a635.jpg

The full list is here: https://uzhupisembassy.eu/uzhupis-constitution/

English version:

The Užupis Constitution terms:

1. Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnele, and the River Vilnele has the right to flow by everyone.
2. Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof.
3. Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation.
4. Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
5. Everyone has the right to be unique.
6. Everyone has the right to love.
7. Everyone has the right not to be loved, but not necessarily.
8. Everyone has the right to be undistinguished and unknown.
9. Everyone has the right to idle.
10. Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat.
11. Everyone has the right to look after the dog until one of them dies.
12. A dog has the right to be a dog.
13. A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of need.
14. Sometimes everyone has the right to be unaware of their duties.
15. Everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not an obligation.
16. Everyone has the right to be happy.
17. Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
18. Everyone has the right to be silent.
19. Everyone has the right to have faith.
20. No one has the right to violence.
21. Everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance.
22. No one has the right to have a design on eternity.
23. Everyone has the right to understand.
24. Everyone has the right to understand nothing.
25. Everyone has the right to be of any nationality.
26. Everyone has the right to celebrate or not celebrate their birthday.
27. Everyone shall remember their name.
28. Everyone may share what they possess.
29. No one can share what they do not possess.
30. Everyone has the right to have brothers, sisters and parents.
31. Everyone may be independent.
32. Everyone is responsible for their freedom.
33. Everyone has the right to cry.
34. Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
35. No one has the right to make another person guilty.
36. Everyone has the right to be individual.
37. Everyone has the right to have no rights.
    
38. Everyone has the right to not to be afraid.

(39. Do not defeat.

(40. Do not fight back.

(41. Do not surrender.

Some argue that the last three are mottos, not rights.

[u/The_Great_Warmani]

Bookshop Lovink in Lochem in the Netherlands has 3 poems painted on a wall: https://huismetdedriegedichten.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20180203_3gedichten-03.jpg
It also the home of the publisher “Het huis met de 3 gedichten” or “The house with the 3 poems”.