Art in the City - a poem by Amy Acre

Art in the City

by Amy Acre 

'When the City Smiles 

You can hear it for days.

It spatters like paint,

dusting faces with glitter,

pavements with ketchup

and the air with music.

When the City Smiles

It's lips curve around the river

like clay on a wheel

or a bow on a sting.

Faces open like doors

and ideas pop

like the point of a pen'

The talented Amy Acre wrote this fantastic poem as an interpretation of our vision for the area's cultural scene - Ellie Beedham, Director of Arts.

Team London Bridge partnered with Black Swan Studios and The Poetry Takeaway to offer free dance classes and 'takeaway' poems to the crowds at this year's Bermondsey Street festival.

An enthusiastic crowd of all ages enjoyed the skilfully taught free afro-beats and popping hip-hop workshops at Black Swan Studio, in the relaxed atmosphere of the studio space. The classes were a taster of what's to come when the International Popcity hip-hop dance competition lands in London Bridge on 5 January 2019.

The team were also excited to programme the hugely successful The Poetry Takeaway for Bermondsey Street Festival. We parked up the takeaway van by The Garrison restaurant, customised it and filled with professional poets who were inundated with orders throughout the day, writing original poems for all the festival goers.