As I wrote initially, this is experimental, so there will be some trial and error. I’d been going to create a poetry map (similar to the Stanza Poetry Map of Scotland *), but was unsure of how best to include the other aspects of people’s experience that I’d like the map to have – to include the voices of people that might not want to write poems or don’t feel comfortable with that kind of expression**, but still have something valuable to contribute. Several people I’ve spoken to since publishing the first post have told me about a memory associated with a particular Dumfries place, often with a smile at their remembering…
So I’d like to try a map that has more than poems – starting with poems, written memories (in a few sentences preferably) and other nuggets of information associated with particular places in Dumfries. If you have photos or drawings of your own of the place concerned, you can include these too.
You can send me any of these, to be considered for publication on the map, either anonymously or not (or you could include your first name and job title or other descriptor!), as long as you include a description of where the place is, confirmation that they are your own words and pictures (or in the case of information, what the source was) and that you grant me permission to post them.
Previously published is fine, just include a note of where. Also, each place can have more than one submission associated with it, so don’t think that if a place is already written about by someone else that you can’t send something too.
Again, I may get no response at all or I may get a huge influx, so only send one thing to begin with please – your favourite association. You can also send me suggestions for the project – there’s a risk that as just one person I’ll not have thought of something important, and I’d really like this to be very inclusive!
Send to oxfamshopf5601@oxfam.org.uk with a subject line of ‘Deep Mapping Dumfries’. Or if you prefer, pop it in an envelope and drop it in or post to the shop at: Deep Mapping Dumfries, Oxfam Books and Music, 121 Queensberry St, Dumfries DG1 1BH.
I’ve made a start with a poem from my visit to the Camera Obscura (which you can read by clicking on the appropriate pin in the map at the top of this page and clicking again on the link you’ll find there) – but poems can take many forms and be on many topics, they just need to be associated with a place that can be pinned on the map!
Other fascinating layers of historic mapping can be explored on the amazing National Library of Scotland’s map resource here
* Many thanks to Eleanor Livingstone, director of Stanza for kind help and advice on this!
** There will be poetry workshops soon, for all levels of experience, so if you’d like to have a go, do watch this space…
Deep Mapping Dumfries 