Rotterdam Has Put Poetry on Its Garbage Trucks Since 1988
The one-line verses are meant to reach people walking the dog or taking out the trash, and drivers treat their truck's line as their own.
Global News Podcast · Four killed in school shooting in US state of OregonSince 1988, rubbish trucks in Rotterdam have carried lines of poetry.
The idea came from the Poetry International Festival, which brings poets from around the world to the city each year. Diana Schardt-Sinnerfadt, the festival's director, says the point was to let the poetry stay after the poets left. The practice has now been recognized as Dutch intangible cultural heritage, meaning a living tradition worth preserving, like a craft or celebration, rather than a building.
The festival uses "only one line from a poem" on a truck, Schardt-Sinnerfadt says, looking for lines that are concise, memorable, and "powerful enough to touch as many people as possible in just a few seconds." The goal, she says, is for poetry to find people who might never pick up a poetry book, while walking the dog or taking out the trash.
Her favorites include British poet Simon Armitage's "Glitz and glitter in the air, but blossom neither here or there," and Rotterdam poet Derek Otte's line, roughly translated as "Stones and bricks make a city rise, but it's the people who give it depth." Drivers drive their own truck with its own line, which she says they love as their own. Several drivers came to the festive unveiling of a new truck the day before.
Questions people ask
What does it mean to be intangible cultural heritage?
In the Netherlands, intangible heritage covers living traditions, from crafts and festivals to rituals and oral expression. It follows a UNESCO convention for safeguarding culture that is practiced rather than built, and Dutch listings are kept in a national inventory with communities that maintain them.
What is the Poetry International Festival?
It is an annual international poetry festival held in Rotterdam since 1970. Each year it invites poets from many countries to give readings and meet audiences, and it also supports translation, education, and poetry in public places around the city.
Do other cities put poetry on public transport?
The best known is Poems on the Underground in London, running since 1986, which places poems in subway cars where riders have time to read. Many transit systems have tried similar programs, but Rotterdam is unusual for using moving garbage trucks and limiting each work to a single line.