Bank Street Arts

In February 2009, we launched our first open call poetry competition, ‘Poetry for Mugs’. In just 8 weeks we received over 650 entries from around the world. Poets were asked to produce a short poem entitled ‘My Cup of Tea’ to be printed on a limited edition set of mugs for use in our cafe, which was due to open later that year. We set a line and character length so that poems would fit onto the mugs. The project was managed exclusively over the internet: the result was entries from all over the world including submissions by established poets to first timers who were inspired by the novelty of the idea. Four poems were selected and published as a limited edition set of mugs.

The four selected poems are shown at the top of the page. Let us know whether they are your cup of tea ….

In the Summer of 2009, we ran another competition under the same banner as part of Sheffield Children’s Festival – the resulting poems from over 350 children were displayed on a huge Poetry Wall in the Atrium at Bank Street and a selection were printed in a small limited edition book and 2 winners on a commemorative mug.

My cup of tea
leaves afloat
smiles at me.
Cozy feeling
warm inside,
fogs up your face,
hurts your eyes.
You have to pull away
from the temptation.

Charli Williams

I think to myself …
reading,
dancing,
acting,
eating,
laughing
talking,
singing,
are just my cup of tea!

Rahna Rashid

Five exquisite teas.
One is Yorkshire,
the rest you don’t need to hear.
Can’t you see,
Yorkshire tea is the only one for me.

Kizwan Shabir

My cup of tea
is cool (like me!)
Milky and sweet.
What a treat.
Bon appetite.

Sam Hanlon