Thanks to some enterprising lovers of the written word, Boston is getting the literary treatment. Mass Poems, a non-profit based out of Massachusetts, is keen on getting average people to enjoy poetry. There latest project is called, “Raining Poetry,” a guerrilla attempt to get pedestrians to bask in the glory of a well-turned phrase.
A joint project between Boston’s City Hall and Mass Poets, “Raining Poetry”, sees members of the Mayor’s Mural Crew, a youth group helping to get art into the streets, go around and spray paint classic poems on sidewalks throughout the city. The catch, though, is that these poems only appear when it rains, seeming to rise out of the sidewalk like apparitions. At the moment, several of the city’s major and not-so-major landmarks have been the site of tagged poems.
And the organizers don’t plan to stop there. As Mass Poetry’s program director, Sara Siegel said, “Our hope is in the next two years, everyone in the state will encounter a poem in their daily lives at least once or twice a month.”
That’s a pretty lofty goal, though no less admirable. Who wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of some shock and awe poetry while going about their daily lives on a rainy day? Sounds like good fun!
