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New Hampshire

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15 Dec 2009

Diary of a Billsticker – New Hampshire and Vermont, USA

By Phantom Billstickers

I’m from New Zealand so it’s possible I’ll get some of the towns and city names wrong that were covered on this poster run for NZ poetry posters.

We stayed in Perkinsville, Vermont and travelled out to:

In Vermont:
– Chester (Where there is a great bookstore called Misty Valley Books, the owner of which put us on to a fine local poet called Michael Palma)
– Weston
– Ludlow
– Windsor (Where I came across a general store selling NZ Swanndri bush shirts and a bloke who had actually heard the names ‘Dan Carter’ and ‘Richie McCaw’ – Kiwis abroad speak those names often)
– Bellows Falls
– Andover
– Springfield

In New Hampshire:
– Cornish
– White River Junction
– Hanover
– Lebanon

It was my sheer and extreme pleasure to be carrying with me Ben Brown poetry posters (The Door). I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think Ben of Lyttelton had spade-loads of raw talent. Every time I put a poem poster on a lamp-post or a notice board, I am aware that I have at least three effects: on the poet himself (I believe in him), on a potential audience (so nice to be reading a poem in the streets) and on myself (my blood flows).

The week following this poster run we had a great meeting with Alice Quinn from the Poetry Society of America. Whilst in Manhattan for that meeting, I managed to get a few Brian Turner and Sam Hunt poetry posters up. These are very fine NZ poets. Let’s take this to the world, eh? Or do what we can.

 

Keep the Faith,

 

Jim Wilson

15b

21 Sep 2009

Diary of a Billsticker – Vermont & New Hampshire, USA

By Phantom Billstickers

During the week of September 14th to the 18th 2009 I travelled from Lambertville, New Jersey to Lebanon, New Hampshire. This also took me through New York State and Massachusetts, possibly Connecticut as well. The drive is about 320 miles. I stopped at various stages and usually at gas stations and always at Starbucks. I delighted in placing poetry posters by New Zealand poets at these locations. I was always well received. The funny thing about it is that if you go in with a poetry poster, then people will always talk to you. They are always friendly. There’s a heck of a lesson in that.

With me (for company) were poems by Janet Frame, Campbell McKay, Hilaire Campbell and Michele Leggott. By now I had an industrial stapler for the wooden lamp-posts and an endless supply of cello tape. I stayed in White River Junction in Vermont (a truly beautiful State) and used that as a base to cover the surrounding area. This area was Hanover, Lebanon, and a bunch of small towns (Plainfield, Cornish etc). These small towns have real character. Part of that character is that they always have community notice boards.

Lebanon has some postering bollards and I placed poetry posters on them. I also made sure I covered the libraries in each town. In one library I was approached by a bloke who had seen a Hilaire Campbell poem up in a neighbouring town earlier that day. That made my day. He laughed about the poem the topic of which is Rubbish Collectors in Christchurch, New Zealand (“Love Those Legs”). Is this diplomacy at work?

Dartmouth University is in Hanover and I spent a few hours there placing poetry posters. This is an Ivy League University and sure is big.

The famous author J.D. Salinger lives in Cornish, New Hampshire and I was careful not to intrude on his privacy, everybody deserves privacy. His life is his life. Anyone who can write like him deserves honour in those around him. I did place poetry posters in the area including on the local convenience store’s notice board, and on the local town hall’s board. The convenience store is called “The 12% Solution”. I like that. It’s such a beautiful area.

As I have said many times, I always enjoy a simple poster run and I always come away with the feeling that there’s something real about it. You can’t beat that in life.

 

 

Keep the Faith,

 

Jim Wilson

 
7m

14 Sep 2009

Diary of a Billsticker – Lambertville, New Jersey, USA

By Phantom Billstickers

I arrived in New Jersey about three weeks ago. I am living in a town called Lambertville which is about fifty miles from New York City. New Jersey has about nine million residents on .0015% the land size of Siberia. On the other side of the Delaware River, five minutes walk away, is Philadelphia. In this state, it is illegal to talk on a cell phone whilst driving, but motorcyclists don’t have to wear a helmet. What’s up with that?

I am still putting up posters of New Zealand poets and thoroughly enjoying it. At Phantom Billstickers, we have a system where a file is sent through to a photocopy shop in Princeton, New Jersey. That same day I can pick up posters. I cannot tell you how much photocopying has revolutionised street posters. The new digital printing of larger posters is doing the same, bringing a fresh immediacy to the media. It’s direct and it’s hard-hitting.

Soon after I arrived in Lambertville there was a poetry reading at a local cafe, River Poets Journal. I managed to get a Janet Frame poetry poster and a Geoff Cochrane poetry poster on either side of the podium.

Next, I covered the bookshops and music stores in the area. These included Labyrinth Books and Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, Borders in Flemington, Doylestown Books and Siren Records in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and Farley Books in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Panoply Books in Lambertville has graciously offered to do a window display of posters of NZ poets. Phoenix Books here has a couple of poetry posters in their front door. I think people are interested in what happens in New Zealand.

After this, I started on the cafes and managed to get really good coverage in the area. Even most franchised cafes and fast food outlets have proper notice boards for posters.

In America, a lot of posters are stapled to wooden lamp-posts. A week ago I did the deed and bought an industrial stapler from a really cool, old-school hardware store called Finkles. This store has real character.

The next morning I stapled up poetry posters on all the main streets around Lambertville. I managed to place the posters on good angles for easy viewing so that no matter where you walk in Lambertville you will see a poem by a New Zealand poet. For years I’ve thought a lot about that notion of NZ artists (of all types) being ‘Stranded in Paradise’ and I think that is not now necessarily so. What a crook sentence eh? I meant it, too.

In New York City there is a guy doing something really interesting. When he sees poorly designed posters on lamp-posts, he takes them down and redesigns them. Then he puts the new design (which will work a long way better as a poster) on the same lamp-post. He probably even gives the poster better distribution. This method takes a cue from ‘Guerrilla Gardening”.

This past week I took some Janet Frame poetry posters back to Princeton. I placed some on the local postering bollards and then I went to the English Dept (McCosh Hall) at Princeton University. I managed to get excellent coverage through that department. I was delighted to be helping bring our finest writer to America. I call that “Freedom”. It was all just really exciting and I got excellent coverage in the hallways (where posters were displayed) and on the notice boards. Princeton was recently voted the number one University in the USA – first equal with Harvard.

This week I am away to Cornish, New Hampshire. I’ll be taking with me poetry posters by Michele Leggott, Hilaire Campbell, and Campbell McKay.

 

 

Keep the Faith,

Jim Wilson

 

6j

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