The Poetry Foundation Tells Us All to Take a Walk

To start us off, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, even those of you who do not live in the US. Regardless of whether or not you celebrated the holiday, I hope you took the time, like I did, to listen to the stories, jokes, and perhaps even poems of your friends and family.


Now that we're all back and refreshed from this most gustatory of celebrations, I'm sure we could all use a nice long walk to get rid of those extra pounds. Well, our friends at The Poetry Foundation have us covered.  They've recently kicked off an exciting new walking tours project in both DC and Chicago.


The Poetry Foundation has long been one of the most technologically innovative poetry organizations, and as such we've covered them a number of times before. But for me, this project tops them all, and not just because I live in the DC area.


Literary tours are not uncommon things, but most of them require a flesh-and-blood tour guide, some money, and a set time frame. The Poetry Foundation requires none of these things for its tours. You simply download a free mp3, print out a map, and you're on an adventure of poetic geography. And for those of you who don't even have the time to leave the house or office, you can tour both cities on a purely virtual level.


I know that I'll be taking advantage of the DC tour this weekend, and I can only hope that more tours in East Coast cities are released soon. In the meantime, virtual tours will have to do. If you're in DC or Chicago, this is a great way to expand your literary horizons. If you're not, feel free to lobby for more cities on Twitter.