THE GLOBAL VILLAGE

Feeling a little uncultured, a little depressed by the shorn prose of everyday life? Well, if you visit London anytime soon, you can ring up Dial-a-Poem and hear a poet reading one of his or her latest works. For 70 British pence per minute, British Telecom customers can hear 5-minute recordings of British poets such as John Heath-Stubbs reciting their verse. Poetry has been showing up elsewhere in London, as well: The London underground has been displaying verses of Shelley, Burns and De la Mare on some of its trains, and has organized poetry readings at some of its stations.