Description
Wednesday 3rd June 11am
Did you know poetry Was an Official Olympic Event for Nearly 40 Years? Will you be one of our Pantheon of Muses for 2026?
At the ancient Olympics in Greece, athletes weren’t the only stars of the show. The spectacle also attracted poets, who recited their works for eager audiences. Physical strength and literary prowess were inextricably linked.
Thousands of years later, this image appealed to Pierre de Coubertin, a French baron best known as the founder of the modern Olympics in 1896. He pictured a competition that would “reunite in the bonds of legitimate wedlock a long-divorced couple—muscle and mind.”
The baron believed that humanity had “lost all sense of eurythmy,” a word he used to describe the harmony of arts and athletics. The idea can be traced back to sources such as Plato’s Republic, in which Socrates extolls the virtues of education that combines “gymnastic for the body and music for the soul.”
Categories:
- Speed Poetry
Pick a prompt (5–10 minutes to write a poem – funniest line wins):
“A banana competing in the Olympics”
“Your shoelaces have opinions”
“The moon is judging you” - Relay Poem
Teams of 3–5 (5–10 minutes to write a poem – most chaotic poem wins):
Each person writes one line, then passes it on
Results are usually chaotic and funny
- Blackout Poetry
Give a newspaper page/book excerpt (5–10 minutes to write a poem – judged on creativity + impact):
Cross out words to create a poem
- Random Word Challenge
You will be given 5 random words you must include in your poem.
5–10 minutes to write a poem. Judged on creativity + fun factor
part of Alchemy of Words festival
FREE EVENT
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