A poetic trail has appeared in shop windows across the streets of the island’s capital.

The 2020 Poetry Trail, organised by the Isle of Man Poetry Society, opened in September and features originals from 12 local poets published in the windows of participating shops along the Douglas north quayside, Market Hill, Duke Street, Strand Street, Granville Street and Victoria Road.

Among the poems are ’Tetchy Techno’, by local writer Hazel Teare, ’I have a Magic Pencil’, by ’Boakesey’, and ’Slieau Whallian’, written by Jim Finn, among others, including Mary Moffat and Viv Ward.

Some of the poems are inspired by the coronavirus pandemic, including ’The Year The World Was Paused’, by Carol Ellis.

The poetry trail was almost cancelled for 2020 because of the uncertainty over social distancing restrictions.

However, after initially making the decision to hold the competition without the trail during the lockdown period, the relaxing of restrictions meant it could go ahead as planned.

’During March, we really were undecided about what to do,’ said Isle of Man Poetry Society Chairman Bethany De Legh-Runciman.

’It was just a case of "Do we or don’t we?"

’In the end, we decided to go ahead, even after the Manx Litfest was cancelled, as it is a part of that event.

’We were thankful to the backing of the Isle of Man Arts Council and the Manx Lottery Trust to help us hold the trail.

’I’m glad it has gone ahead this year, as the poems are brilliant,’ she continued.

’They were about all sorts of topics and not just about coronavirus.

’Obviously, you can’t avoid it and there are some poems that address it, which are terrific poems. But I’m glad that there was a good variety of topics.

’We actually have 14 poems this year, rather than 12.

’There were two entered by schoolchildren, ’Aurora’ by Evan Quinn and ’Football mad’ by Alfie Owen which weren’t selected for the trail but were so good that I decided to include them anyway.

’They are on display at the Family Library at Westmoreland Road.’

Trail guides are available from the Henry Bloom Noble Library, Duke Street, Douglas. The trail is on until Thursday, October 15.