How I paid with a poem

What is poetry worth?

World Poetry Day was on Monday 21 March and was celebrated differently by hundreds of people around the world.

Me? I wrote a six-line poem and traded it for a free coffee.

A couple of nationwide newspapers reported that several coffee shops around the world would be participating in a scheme that would allow poets-in-the-making to be paid with a drink of their choice. As I was in Prague for the Literature Society trip, I decided to take full advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I have to admit that this seemed like the perfect combination of bucket-list ideals I had once dreamt of as a little girl. My friends and I walked up to Café Louvre with the full intention of not paying with the Czech Koruna. Looking around the room, we instantly knew that, had it not been for the Pay with a Poem idea, we would have never dreamt of eating there. The café, standing in one of Prague’s busiest streets since 1902, had the most beautiful pink walls and gorgeous door frames. We also found out later that the café had been previously frequented by Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein. In other words, how could we resist?

Having been literally paid for my writing, I must say that I don’t know whether to feel proud or ashamed of what I have put my name to

A kind lady showed us to our seats (in the non-smoking lounge because, for some reason, you can still smoke inside in the Czech Republic) and saw – probably from our eager yet tired faces – that we would be paying with our words instead. On the table, there were small pieces of paper resembling post-it notes along with red pencils that had “Julius Meinl” written all over.

We brainstormed ideas as a group. Who would write a haiku? A limerick? Will it rhyme? Would we be proud to show these to our lecturers (obvious answer: no)?

The waitress came and took our order before we started to jot our ideas down. She presented us with the menu, told us that most of the drinks would be free with our poem, and promptly left to allow us time and space to write. I must admit that I wrote the poem in record speed – I just wanted to get my free latte!

What is poetry really worth? Are the six lines I scribbled on a tiny piece of paper worth something that would have cost me upwards of £2?

Having been literally paid for my writing, I must say that I don’t know whether to feel proud or ashamed of what I have put my name to. True, my seven-year-old self would have been bursting with joy at the idea that someone else would be reading the words that I had personally written down. But my eighteen-year-old self? She was satisfied with her free caffeine boost of the day.

Looking back at the (atrocious) poem I wrote, I wondered, what is poetry really worth? Are the six lines I scribbled on a tiny piece of paper worth something that would have cost me upwards of £2?

Are they worth more? Or are they worth less, or even worthless?

And what does this incentive mean to the innumerable people who have once thought of writing “published poet” on their CV – myself included?

I don’t know. All I know is that I will do everything in my being to take part in Pay with a Poem once again next year.

So thank you, Julius Meinl. Your idea did spark a conversation, even if it was between my childhood self and the person I’ve become today.

Want to find out more about Julius Meinl’s idea for National Poetry Day? Read Jess Corfield’s thoughts here.

Image Credits: Ana Clara Paniago (Images 1 and 2), Rod Lewis / Flickr (Header)