As part of Writers SA’s regional program No Limits, and with support from Raining Poetry in Adelaide, local poetry appeared (and disappeared) on rainy pavements in Whyalla, Loxton, and Naracoorte. (Image supplied)
By Anisha Pillarisetty | @nishkinsilk
The initiative sprung from Writers SA state-wide regional manager Alysha Herrmann reaching out to the Raining Poetry in Adelaide team – a group of postgraduate students at the University of Adelaide who run an annual “poetry street festival” supported by the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice.
Herrmann said she has been a long-time fan of the project, which showcases local poetry across city pavements using “invisible” spray and stencils. The spray is also water-repellent and biodegradable, which means the poems are “activated” by water and usually appear when it rains.
Bringing Raining Poetry to the regions is one of many projects initiated by Writers SA’s No Limits program which, Herrmann said, is a “time-specific” youth-focused program for regional writers, aimed at “building capacity across the regions”.
Herrmann said contributing poets were selected through a two-part system – an open call-out for submissions judged anonymously by the Raining Poetry in Adelaide team, and direct commissions to “make sure the voices represented were diverse”.
Unlike their more youth-focused projects, Herrmann said Raining Poetry in the Regions was open to writers of all ages, aiming to nurture “intergenerational sharing” and “being able to sit alongside each other on the pavement”.
“Projects like this create the opportunity for conversation,” Herrmann said.
“The biggest impacts in terms of testimonials have been young writers saying, ‘It’s made me feel like I’m part of something; it’s made me feel like I’m not alone; it’s made me feel like someone’s listening to me’ and for me that’s really powerful and important.”
The regional Raining Poetry program received three times the submissions they could accept within their budget, according to Herrmann.
At the time of speaking to On The Record in early spring, a team of writers, volunteers and Writers SA regional staff had installed poetry in two of three locations – the Whyalla Jetty, and the median strip along Loxton’s main street. Back then, the Naracoorte install was still underway.
“We spent three hours with six or seven of us, including my husband and daughter who came along to help,” Herrmann said.
“It looks amazing once they’re done, but actually getting out there in the sun and tagging everything – that’s pretty unglamorous.”
One of the selected poets, Anastasia Beasley, said they “felt really proud” stencilling their poem onto the ground.
“The past year has been the longest time I’ve spent away from my friends and family, and that poem expresses a key memory from home that helped shape who I am today,” Beasley said.
Like Raining Poetry in Adelaide, the regional team used the non-slip, environmentally safe spray made by Canadian-based company Rainworks.
According to Rainworks’ estimates, the poems last around eight to twelve weeks, Herrmann said.
“They do say that somewhere where there’s not much foot traffic, they can be there a year later,” she said. “But we’ve told the poets to get out there within the first six to eight weeks if they want to see them on the pavement.”
No Limits also organised for local creatives to participate in “pop-up activations” of the poems.
“For example, in Whyalla we have the amazing D’faces, which is a youth arts organisation, and we’ve asked some of their young people to go and activate the poems with watering cans and things like that, as a bit of a performance activation.”
Poet Beasley, who is also D’faces’ creative producer, said the performance offered the participants a “creative challenge”.
“No Limits is vital in reducing the access barriers that all regional young people experience,” Beasley said.
D’faces is also teaming up with No Limits to present Here. Now. Feast., a free literary showcase of regional LGBTQIA+ young writers, running as part of the 2022 Feast Festival.
The showcase – being held in Whyalla between 7pm and 8.30pm on November 19 – will be livestreamed for those that cannot make it in person, and will be available to watch afterwards.
Herrmann said while a lot of No Limits projects have been “public-facing”, connections are constantly being forged “behind the scenes”.
“We know that so much of what writers need is that person locally to be able to connect to and go, ‘This is what I’m thinking, how do I navigate that pathway?’,” Herrmann said.
“A lot of the more meaningful work has actually been some of that more invisible stuff that’s about actually just working with young writers to help them identify what their goals are, how they can get there and for them to feel a bit more connected.”
Although federal funding for No Limits ends in December, Herrmann said as a “state-wide organisation”, Writers SA is always working “to invest in the regions”.
More information on the No Limits program can be found on the Writers SA website.
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