Edinburgh drive aims to bring poetry to wider audience

'IF YOU knew me, you'd know I'm not the kind of person to send love poetry," laughs Ali Bowden, below.

But the 36-year-old director of the City of Literature Trust has started sending out copies of i carry your heart with me by e.e. cummings to friends who are grieving or in need of comfort.

The poem, by the US writer who died in 1962, is now also pinned to her noticeboard and there's a copy in her wallet. She came across it while doing research for the trust's 2010 Citywide Reading Campaign, which this year focuses on poetry. The campaign runs through February and will see 13,000 free copies of the Carry A Poem book given away. It features poems chosen by stars and city residents.

One of those is Ali's choice. The Southsider explains: "The poem kind of picked me. It just clicked with the way I was feeling."

Partially, she says, that was because last year she split from her partner of 13 years, but also because when her father, Robert, died in 2001, aged 65, she wrote on the card for his wreath: "I'll carry you with me always."

"Now I realise that line from this poem is what I was thinking then, too. It's what I feel about all those who have somehow gone from me – all the people who've made me who I am."

For more information visit www.carryapoem.com