Digenis.org

RIA Novosti reports that the Moscow metro will begin playing seasonal poetry for passengers as they exit and enter the stations by escalator.

Selected excerpts of springtime poetry from Sergei Esenin, Evgeny Baratynsky, and Aleksei Plescheyev will be interspersed between the audio advertisements currently played for those using the escalators in the metro stations. This is part of a wider campaign which also includes posters with phrases from flowery springtime poetry. The Moscow Metropolitan Press Service has said that seasonal poetry will be played during other times of the year as well.

This is all super, of course. Anyone who rides the metro on a regular basis probably hears the typical recorded messages “Ostorozhno, dveri zakryvaetsya”, “Ne zabyvaete svoyi veshi”, and so on in their dreams at night, so it will be wonderful to have some variety there.

This reminds me of another thing I really love about Russia. I really do think that the average Russian has a greater appreciation and knowledge of the arts (theater, literature, etc) than do my own countrymen. It’s apparent in many ways, and maybe this is just another… I mean, do you think you’d ever hear some springtime Whitman in the Boston metro?