Hampshire has put itself on the poetry map, with 125 poems about the county on a website  – and plenty more to come, and welcomed. You don’t need to live in Hampshire to join in the project – just write a poem about somewhere in the county.

The idea, Writing Hampshire, was the brainchild of Hampshire’s Poet for 2012-13, Brian Evans-Jones, pictured. He said: “The site has been going since September 2012, and we’ve got 125 poems on it to date. There’s work by published poets, performance poets, people who’ve never been published before, people who’ve never even written a poem before, prisoners, disabled people, and kids of six  - and that’s just the writers I know something about!

“The range of places people have used is just as diverse: we’ve got lots of poems about the beautiful Hampshire countryside, but we’ve also got poems about cities, towns, and villages; trains and buses; high streets, side streets, cafes, supermarkets, tower blocks, walls, hostels, bridges, prison, football stadiums, the Mary Rose, car parks, and a Roundabout of Despair.”

He added: “The project is open-ended: it probably will close at some point, but there are no plans to stop it while we’re still getting a steady flow of submissions. We passed the 100-poem mark around Christmas, and I would like to get to at least 200. I and the literature office for Hampshire are hoping that this project can be kept online indefinitely, even after it closes for submissions, to be a lasting poetic map of the county  – though council funding will decide its fate in the end. (I believe Cheshire laureate Andrew Rudd did something similar in 2006, but it’s no longer up).”

Brian has been to schools, writers’ groups, Winchester prison and a homeless hotel in connection with the project. “I’m still hoping to add to that list: I’d love to go into some workplaces, for example, and get people writing about where they work. The schools sessions are particularly rewarding too, as kids see how their so-called ordinary places can become special in a poem, so I'm always up for more of those.”

You can contact Brian at brian@brianevansjones.com