Since lockdown began in March 2020, we’ve being rustling up some poems for breakfast every weekday morning, inviting subscribers to make a poem the first thing they read every day instead of the headlines. We created an email list which has to date reached over 800 subscribers all over the world, and sent all those lovely people a daily poem to digest throughout the day. It’s been a wonderful journey over the past 18 months, finding poems that feel hopeful, consoling, seasonally-appropriate, thought-provoking, while also making sure we’re representing all different kinds of poetry from a range of diverse voices.
All good things must come to an end, however, and we’ve decided that now is the time to wind down the Poems for Breakfast project. OPL is moving on to pastures new, with a move later this autumn into a permanent space which we hope will become a resource for people to access our hundreds of books, share ideas, connect with each other, and enjoy reading and writing. Although we will greatly miss our Poems for Breakfast project, redirecting our energy to this exciting new venture will continue to allow all sorts of people to discover and delight in the magic of poetry!
We’ll be sending breakfast poems out for the next month, with the last mailing on 15 October. From then, we hope to be set up in our new physical space in central Oxford. The world will always need poetry, and I hope the habit of reading a poem a day will stay with our dear subscribers – but rather than seeing us in your inboxes, why not come find us in real life, and borrow a book or two!
Thank you so much to everyone who has enjoyed the Poems for Breakfast project, to anyone who has donated money or sent us poem suggestions, or even just been in touch with feedback and responses to the mailouts. It has meant a great deal to us to hear about the impact these poems have made to your mornings these past years.
A few logistical things in a handy FAQ…
I have a regular donation set up through Paypal. Should I cancel it?
Firstly: THANK YOU! The money we’ve received through these donations has allowed us to continue the Poems for Breakfast project for as long as we did. We are truly grateful for this support. We understand that now the mailings are stopping, you might want to cancel your monthly donation. You can stop your payments through Paypal at any time. However, any continued donations or surplus at the end of the project will go directly towards sustaining the poetry library with all its future endeavours, including its new physical home.
Where can I find OPL in the future, and how can I continue to support their work?
Our new permanent home will be in central Oxford. The last details are just being finalized, but more details will be released in the next few weeks. Stay tuned on our website and sociail media for more information!
Later this month, we will be setting up a Patreon account for the library. Patreon is a platform that allows people to sign up to give regular monthly donations to support an organization in return for perks, mailouts, and updates. Through the OPL Patreon, we hope to cover the costs associated with keeping a permanent space, as well as the upkeep of the books, expanding the collection, and running events and workshops. More information about how to contribute to this Patreon will be released later in September so please stay tuned on our social media and website for information!
Will you be releasing the poems anywhere publicly?
Due to copyright issues, we can’t publish the poems anywhere publicly. However, in the last week of mailings, we plan to release a list of the ~400 poems we shared as part of the project, so all subscribers have a record and can seek the poems out online or in book form!
What a rich resource this has been for me. Thank you so much! I will miss this gift of a poem each morning hugely. I am indebted to the oxfordpoetrylibrary.com for expanding my knowledge of a wide variety of poets and deepening my appreciation of poetry.
I wish you well with your new venture and hope to visit you in Oxford one day.
Thank you again for enriching my lockdowns – and my life.
(I wish you were on Instagram!!)
Thanks so much Kingsley 🙂 We’re delighted this project has brought you so much. Do stay in touch! We are on instagram! https://www.instagram.com/oxfordpoetrylibrary/
Hurray! I’ve just started following you. I’ve been posting poems all through lockdown too, for family mainly and a few friends. Many of them come from your emails!
@queenie53
Thank you very much for your wonderful service. I will miss my
morning poem.
I’ve read many poets new to me and loved the idea of not knowing what will pop up on the next day.
Thank you once again.
Oh gosh! How exciting for you and i am sure people loving nearby will really value you. I have loved having a poem in my inbox every morning and my phone tells me it really is the thing i look at first! I have a huge stack of poetry books by my bed and you have inspired me – I will just have to read one for myself and curate my own morning poems. I will miss your poems and thank you so much – has been a real joy in the last year and half x
Thank you so much for all you have done and are doing.
I’d love to try writing poetry but wouldn’t know where to begin. Hope you might run some workshops.
Hi Pamela! I might direct you to our LIT Reading/Writing Group, which meets fortnightly (next session is October 11th) and is a very friendly, gentle space where we share work but also play writing games and do a bit of writing! https://www.facebook.com/groups/223789834941256
Oh dear! I don’t even know my own Instagram handle! 🙄 Just in case – to avoid any confusion it’s @queeniefiftythree
I have so enjoyed the poems each morningl Thank you so much
Oh my dear Poem for Breakfast, I shall miss you so deeply. You were for most of those strange months with three stricts lockdown in France, the first thing I read in the morning, a first ray of sun. You also were the occasion of exchanges with my friend Julia, one of your follower too, in UK. Despite the lack of travelling we travelled far away, thanks to you.
It was a wonderful initiative, I wish you the best in your new location in central Oxford. You were one of my first encounter, in town, giving leaflets out of your bicycle, 5,6 years ago, a collection of poems about autumn. It was the beginning of my discovery, a world of poems that had opened in front of me. See you one of those days when it will be natural again to travel. Until then hope to learn about your progress and updates on your site, And many, many thanks again, Christine
Awww, I will be sad not to get my daily dose of poetry, it’s been a wonderful source of inspiration and comfort many a day over the last few months. Huge thanks to you for keeping it going this long! having put just one week’s worth of poems together I know how much thought and time this takes to get right. Ever grateful x
I shall miss these daily reminders, gentle nudges of important things in life. I would encourage you to consider continuing the idea. A base of 800 subscribers is not to be taken lightly and a subscription only list might be a great source of regular income?
Thank you so very much for all your work and love in putting these poems together over so many weeks. They really have been the’first thing’ I’ve looked at in the morning and I’ve so often find them to say something that just chimed with what I needed to hear that particular day. A huge comfort and source of joy and thoughtfulness. I shall miss them enormously.
Thank you too for giving us the links to the poems again and their sources.
All very best of wishes for your future project. It’s in good hands, that’s for sure!
Your poems each morning have been a great gift to enliven my day. Thank you.