VIDEO: 'Banksy of poetry' delights Sheffield salon with uplifting verse

Emma Rabjohn, Elton Clough and Vicky Green of Betty Tigers in Upperthorpe with the mystery poems they have received through the post.

Hand-written verse started arriving through the post at Betty Tigers in Infirmary Road, Upperthorpe, at the start of November.

The uplifting poems, written in silver ink on black card, continued into 2017, and staff initially presumed had been sent by a customer.

But some online research soon brought up other cases of similar poems being sent to other hairdressers across the country.

Each is signed 'Mark Jones'.

Stylist Vicky Green and her colleagues had no idea why they were receiving the poems. But they were delighting with the life-affirming messages they contained.

"People say he's like the Banksy of the poetry world," said Ms Green.

"He signs them all off with 'keep your chin up' and 'keep smiling'. They are all happy poems about life.

"It's a bit of a mystery."

The staff at Betty Tigers weren't quite sure what to make of the poems at first. But when they realised they weren't alone in receiving them, they decided to contact The Star.

"We weren't quite sure what to do, but because the other salons had been searching for him, we thought we should do something," said Ms Green.

"It's quite exciting, really.

"We've got them all on display, and we've recorded them put them on YouTube.

"I haven't got a clue why he chose us."

A Mystery Poem

My best friend the robin

Sings to me each day

Although I've tried to understand

I don't know what he says

Maybe he's just happy

His song is never blue

I know that if you lend an ear