Poems at a price Poet Ralph Hoyte offers £1 for people to listen to his poems. Ref: 77304-81SWINDON FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE - FOR one day, and probably one day only, it paid to listen to poetry. People in Swindon were bemused by the sight of a poet pounding the streets, offering to pay anybody a pound if they would listen to him reading a poem.

The event was part of the Swindon Festival of Literature.

As poet Ralph Hoyte launched himself into a poem at Swindon bus station he said: "This is a bit difficult. I'm in competition with a bus."

A school bus was revving its engine in preparation for its duties and belching out plumes of smoke.

Ralph said: "Perhaps I'll have to read an anti-pollution poem."

A bus station is not the sort of place where you expect to meet poetry. John Afonso, 52, of the town centre, was waiting on a bench with some friends.

He said: "We're waiting for a bus to work. We don't have time for poems."

Ralph said: "Some people are embarrassed to take the money. It's a very un-British thing to do.

"Before doing this I didn't realise how intimate it is to read a powerful poem to one person."

Ralph, 53, is married with two children, and is a full-time writer.

He's no stranger to literary stunts. Three years ago he wrote a 600-metre poem that was glued to the pavement on the streets of his home town Bristol. In spite of people's embarrassment, by mid-afternoon he had managed to give away £50 of the literary festival's money.

He said: "I would say nearly everyone has accepted. I've only had eight or nine refusals.

"An Irish nun in Queen's Park said she would donate her pound to the church."

Mary Hill, of Bishopstone, who stopped to listen, said: "It was a very good poem.

"If people will stop and listen I suppose it's a good idea to be reminded of books and poetry.

"There's so much rubbish about these days."

Her daughter Gemma Hill, 22, a percussion teacher, said: "It's good to have people doing things like this."

John White, 38, who lives in the town centre and was en-route to a Kylie Minogue concert in London, works as an abseiling window cleaner.

He was taken to poetic heights by his encounter with Ralph. He said: "It's very entertaining. It puts a smile on people's faces."

Claire Griffiths, 18, was a bit dubious when the idea was explained to her, but after one poem she was asking for more.

She said: "I thought it was a bit of a strange concept. To be fair, it's weird. But now I think it's cool as it probably gets people interested in poetry and literature."

And she still managed to catch the number 53 bus home to Purton.

What's coming up

FRIDAY

Tony Augurde will present word games at the Arts Centre at 12.30pm

Eric Maddern will be telling stories at Lydiard House at 6pm.

David Starkey will be speaking on the monarchy at the Arts Centre at 6pm.

Michael Bywater will be at the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, Bath Road, at 7.30pm.

The Guardian's Simon Hoggart will be at the Arts Centre at 8pm.

SATURDAY

Stanza and Deliver, Swindon's first inter-school poetry slam, is taking place at the Arts Centre at 11am.

Eric Maddern will be telling more stories at Lydiard House from 2-4pm.

Poems and Pints, hosted by Marcus Moore, will be at the Town Hall, Regent Circus at 8pm.

Comedian Rainer Hersch will be at the Arts Centre at 7.30pm.

SUNDAY

Children and Families Day, includes writing workshops, storytalks and storywalks, is at Lower Shaw Farm from 10am to 4pm.

Comedian David Baddiel is at the Wyvern Theatre at 6pm.

A performance of Twelfth Night by Swindon Young Actors takes place at the Wyvern Theatre at 8pm.

At the fringe

FRIDAY

The fringe festival at the Beehive pub in Prospect Hill continues today with a second-hand book sale, at 4.30pm, with the proceeds going to its tsunami appeal.

SUNDAY

At 2pm Monkey Dolls will be performing indie and rock covers.

At 8.30pm the Fish Brothers perform a raucous blend of Victorian music hall and punk.