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A South Canterbury poetry group is aiming to enliven Timaru’s creative literary scene with a special installation for National Poetry Day on Friday.
To mark the day, South Canterbury Live Poets, with the support of Venture Timaru, has hung six large poem posters in various shop windows along Stafford St.
A competition was held last month by the live poets group to select the works that would be displayed with South Canterbury chosen as the theme.
South Canterbury Live Poets co-founder Deirdre T. Lavery said the group had received more than 30 submissions.
“There were two main criteria.
“One was they had to be well written and the other was that it was relevant [to South Canterbury].
“We had lots that were very good and on-point but we also had a lot of fabulous and very publishable poems that didn’t quite follow the brief.
“The people who have been selected are really excited about having their work up.”
She said the group appreciated Venture Timaru funding the costs to print and display the poem posters.
“We want people here to know that our literary community of poets here in South Canterbury is thriving.
“The live poets group has been going for three and a bit years now and with other funding we’ve managed to get well-established writers to come in and perform for us over that time.
“Their performance skills are great and it helps lift our standard because we hear really good work being produced.
“I think for a group to thrive we need things like top poets coming to perform and poster competitions.”
Group member Dwayne Carter said having a live poets group in South Canterbury had been very positive for poets in the region.
“I only knew one other poet in town when I joined the group and met everybody else I know in this community basically through it.
“I think other people have had a similar experience where we were all sort of scattered and live poets brought us together.”
Anyone interested in learning more about the South Canterbury Live Poets can do so by visiting the group’s page on Facebook.