A poem for peace and racial tolerance wins the ‘Poem for Space’ poll for National Poetry Day 2005
Adrian Mitchell’s Human Beings has been voted the poem that people most want to send into space in the hope that it will be read in one hundred years’ time, in a poll for National Poetry Day, Thursday 6th October.
Just under a thousand people voted in the ‘Poem for Space’ poll which was launched to mark this year’s futuristic theme for National Poetry Day. Human Beings, with its theme of tolerance across cultural divides, will be unveiled by Ian McMillan, Poet Laureate for Derby, Leicester and Nottingham, at the National Space Centre, Leicester where it will be displayed outside the space theatre on National Poetry Day. The Poetry Society continues to investigate ways to launch the poem into space!
Adrian Mitchell’s poem won 30% of ‘Poem for Space’ votes. Visitors to the Poetry Society website were given the option to vote for any poem of their choosing, or to pick one of the eight poems suggested by the Poetry Society. Twelve per cent of votes came from overseas including New Zealand, Jamaica and Nigeria.
Adrian Mitchell says of his win:
“I’m very excited that so many people have voted for my poem. Human Beings is a poem for peace. It is about the joy of being human, but that doesn’t mean that it’s against animals or alien beings. When it goes into space and it’s read by aliens, I’d hate for them to think that it’s anti alternative life forms.”
Steve Vesse from the National Space Centre, where Human Beings will be displayed, says:
“The winning poem reminds us all that we're all the same and all capable of learning more about our universe. We look forward to displaying the poem. We hope this will encourage young people to express themselves in poetry and learn more about space."
Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore adds:
“If the Martians can translate this and interpret it, it will give them an interesting view of human nature!”
Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in California, comments:
“Contemporary writers often dwell on the down-side of our behaviour - war, environmental degradation - and make the assumption that these regrettable tendencies would somehow be of interest to the aliens. Adrian Mitchell's poem is very evocative, although it seems rather more suitable for a human audience than one consisting of extraterrestrials. Consequently, we should either apologize or express the hope that some way we will improve.”
