International Put Your Poem in a shop month - Interim Report

First a little interview with the founder of IPYPIASM - or "me" as I am otherwise known

Where did you get the idea for this annual event?
Inspiration first came from a discussion with Emerging Writer, who told me during late November last year that she had got a poem in shop - meaning the magazine, but I had misunderstood - and thought she had a poem in a shop, and thought it was a great idea.
Why do you want to have poems in every shop in the world during the month of December?
I think December is possibly the most hassly month of the year in terms of time spent in shops, queuing in said shops, and the amount of money handed over in said shops, making it overall a kind of stressful experience, thought it would be nice to have a little pressie for shop goers, and reason to make your own visit to the shop more artistically satisfying not to mention more exciting.
Any differences in your approach this year?
YES - I'm so glad you asked that... (stop talking to yourself Niamh, people will think you're weird)... anyway last years poems in shops approach was to put the poem disguised as a note, on a noticeboard, this year the poem goes anywhere in a shop - in with the merchandise - which in some ways was harder than last year, but opened up more possibilities for tying in with the product you were targetting with the poem.
And what has the month achieved so far?
This year we have had up to a 1000% (exact figures are difficult to calculate because for practical reasons I cannot check every single shop in the whole world) increase in poems being placed in shops, and a 2 million percent uplift in international participation with Scotland far in the lead with 5 poems so far...

On with the report - poems placed so far:
I led the way with a poor enough poem about milk, left in a poor shop with some milk, where I bought a bottle of pop that I would never have otherwise bought...Oubliette was next to charge, cheering us no end, with an impulse spur of the moment poem, from the inside of a certain boutiquey garden shoppish place where the recession hadn't made it past the metal detectors.
Then Titus took us international with her 2 poems in a tiny colourful shop somewhere in a scottish village... left up only momentarily, not to scandalise the locals... more from Titus later

Next up TFE got a brave little poem almost wheeled into store by a brave little mouse, who couldn't quite make it, but the poem was still there the next day... no actual evidence of the poem being actually in the shop... ie a photograph, but there is no doubt in my mind that the deed was done, he has promised to complete another mission - this time perhaps with a photo in situ...I followed up with a double bombing of a beauty conscious gift shopper targetted superstore poem, nervewrackingly placed between the boxsets.Hot on the heels of that came Rachel Fox of More about the song - with her beautiful tree poem on a postcard, a gift for anyone that found it among the crackers or the wrapping paper...Titus was back in action very soon after that with one absolutely scandalous and one other brilliant poem, both with spot on product placement, belly laughing stuff.For a little bit of an old classic touch - I presented last years poem among the cabbages on a quick shopping trip.
TFE wrote a fantastic award winning poem about sunglasses which... eh may or may not have some day made it into a sunglasses shop, if there was a sunglasses shop in this country...

An amazingly talented young girl, who just happens to also be my genius neice then completed a dastardly mission to the most beautiful fish shop in Galway with the most fabulously decorated poem about fish that I have ever seen. You'll find more detail on that at her secretary's blog - Man About Forty.So over to you blogworld - half the month is over, but half is still to go - 14 shopping days till the end of December - get out there and put your poem in a shop... and don't forget to let us know about it!!!