Ever imagined what it’s like to be a puddle? Or told a story to a parked car? Maybe you should…

For this year’s National Poetry Day, Overhear have teamed up with Rough Trade Books’ Poetry Fruit Machine to release a set of eight Wanders that take the weird and wonderful prompts from the card game and drop them into the world somewhere near you – just open up the app and select Wanders to find yourself seeing the world around you in a new and interesting way. All very appropriate to this year’s theme: wonder.

Since its launch a year ago, Poetry Fruit Machine has delighted poets and non-poets alike with its set of 54 cards featuring illustrations familiar and strange, ‘chance elements, inspiring instructions and perverse restrictions’ formulated by Ella Frears and Jessica Todd. Our collaboration adapts prompts from the card deck to be experienced through our brand new feature: Wanders.

Wanders is a new mode on the Overhear app that drops recordings somewhere nearby: Set a time limit, define a safe travel area and find yourself wandering somewhere random therein. Whether it’s a familiar path or you end up somewhere new, on arrival, you’ll be given a thoughtful prompt to get you to see where you are with fresh eyes. You can write and/or record your response directly in the app and choose whether to keep it private or share it to the public map.

See a lovely demonstration courtesy of our fantastic founder Tom below:

There are eight Poetry Machine Wanders available for free on the Overhear app from today, each read by a poet from the Rough Trade Books network, and you’re able to run each one as many times as you like – see how different environments draw new things from the same prompt; we can’t wait to hear the responses!

If these Wanders only whet your appetite for Poetry Fruit Machine, the full game featuring a deck of 54 cards – and the expansion pack! – are both available to purchase on the Rough Trade Books website here.