The greatest  of Landmark Poetics in Britain is by Gwyneth Lewis. Opened in 2004  “In these stones Horizons Sing”   is The Millenium Centre in Wales.  It’s uncompromising and contemporary nature makes it the  closest to Ian Hamilton Finlay’s work. Like Finlay’s work it is  perfectly placed within its setting.  The words are made of glass, they  speak of stone and are surrounded by metal. They are summoned by the sky and air  from where they shine with light. On Sunday at 4.30pm on BBC radio 4 I present  Landmark Poetics. It’s really about the upsurge of Landmark poetry in Britain.    

In 2010 Simon Armitage’s Stanza Stones appeared in the hills of his Yorkshire home.They have become a tourist attraction and an acclaimed  book has been published. There are  poems firing into the skyline of Sheffield.  John Siddiques poems appeared in the shop windows of hebden Bridge after the town was engulfed by the river. Jo Bells poems are inscribed in Canal Locks. There is an unprecedented use of poetry by property developers across teh country.

This explosion of Landmark Poetics is greater in this century than ever in the previous. Better than the 1960’s when Ian Hamilton Finlay started Little Sparta.  The 2012 Lodnon Olympics heralded  landmark poetics by commissioning  five olympic poems  which remain on Queen Elizabeth Park in east London.  Since my own Landmark Poem in 1994  – Hardys Well below –  I have seen this development and  I’ve been publishing poems on the skin of England from then to the present day.