For five years Jim Wilson has traveled to cities and towns throughout the USA and around the world and put poem posters by Kiwi poets on poles, walls, and in cafes and in store windows. Then a group of volunteers has added to the effort. Poem posters have been put up in cities including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Chicago, Clarksdale (Mississippi), Glasgow, Hong Kong, London, NYC, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, and Vienna, among many others. Back home in New Zealand, Wilson’s company Phantom Billstickers Ltd has put up thousands of Kiwi poems on walls and poster bollards from one end of the country to the other.

Jim Wilson founded Phantom Billstickers in New Zealand in 1982 as a street-media company dedicated to giving musicians, the arts, and creative people in Aotearoa a voice, and to use posters on walls to put “Bums on Seats”. Now his aim is to use posters to share the hearts and minds of the Kiwi poet with people outside of New Zealand. Simple.

Kiwi is the nickname used internationally for people from New Zealand. The name is derived from the kiwi, a flightless bird, which is native to, and the national symbol of, New Zealand. It’s usage is viewed as a symbol of pride and endearment. Now four of New Zealand’s finest poets will land in New Hope, PA and bring their voices, hearts, and words to a live performance poetry event at the New Hope Arts Center: Tusiata Avia, Richard Langston, Tourettes (Dominic Hoey), and Alice Andersen.

The Kiwi poets will perform at the New Hope Arts Center in Pennsylvania on Saturday, May 31st at 7 PM. Special guest appearances will be made by American poets Gerald Stern, National Book Award Winner, and four local Bucks County poets, including former Bucks County Poet Laureate Lorraine Henrie Lins. Free admission and refreshments.

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