Pay with a poem: coffee for poetry deal spreads around the globe

Two girls write a poem in a cafe in Hungary for last year’s Pay with a Poem initiative. Photograph: Julius Meinl

Annoyed at the rising price of your coffee, and a hipsterisation so extreme that it’s apparently become a symbol of gentrification? Offended at your barista for not rewarding your loyalty with a free latte? You can forget it all on Monday and put your literary talent to use instead, by exchanging a handwritten poem for coffee in 1,280 outlets around the world.

To mark World Poetry Day on 21 March, an Austrian coffee roasting company is offering a shot of caffeine to customers who hand in a poem. More than 100,000 people gobbled up the offer last year according to coffee company Julius Meinl. The firm has now have expanded it from 23 into 34 countries, mostly in central and eastern Europe, but also including locations in London, Edinburgh, the US, Canada and Australia. You can find a map of this year’s participating establishments here.

Poet and conceptual artist Robert Montgomery will mark the occasion by collecting up all the public contributions and turning them into an art installation in a secret London location.

One of the participants in last year’s World Poetry Day writes a poem in a cafe in Romania.

A coffee shop in South Korea displays some of the poems written by its customers last year.

In the meantime, why not celebrate poetry with us – by showing us a picture of your handwritten poems? Do it by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ buttons, and we’ll publish a selection on World Poetry Day.