Passion for poetry shared through workshops

Posted: Thursday Aug 01, 2024

We were thrilled to collaborate with SuperGrans Dunedin on this series of poetry workshops led by wonderful City of Literature South D Poet Lorikeet Jenny Powell! Thank you to Jenny for the inspiring mahi and to Simon Henderson and The Star newspaper

Passion for poetry shared through workshops | Otago Daily Times Online News (odt.co.nz)

The joy of poetry has been shared through a series of workshops led by a passionate local writer.

City of Literature South Dunedin "Poet Lorikeet" Jenny Powell guided volunteers at Dunedin community organisation SuperGrans through the process of creating poems, during a six-week series of workshops.

Powell said the volunteers were "wonderful" and she loved the experience of teaching them.

"They have ended up writing the most beautiful pieces of work."

During lessons at the SuperGrans location in the South City Mall, Powell opened up the creative process by asking the volunteers to think about being given a wish.

"They could wish to be anything they wanted to be in the world."

Each person then wrote a poem about being their wish.

"And so in that sense their wish is granted because we had this wonderful, almost meditative session last week while they wrote and immersed themselves and the silence spread through the whole place.

"It’s like a kind of miracle is going on here, and so they can return to their wish.

"They can now grant themselves their own wish each time they want to go back to it and become it."

The wish poems will be interpreted by artists from the Studio2 working art studio and gallery in South Dunedin, a vibrant and inclusive space where people with a learning disability and members of the neuro diverse community can come together to explore and expand their art practice.

The poems and art will be published by the City of Literature later this year and the poets and artists will all receive copies.

Powell said she enjoyed the process of working with the volunteers.

"Oh, I love these guys, it will be quite moving for me to finish the group."

During the last workshop session, Powell was presented with a cake made by Botanical Kitchen.

City of Literature project co-ordinator Anne Shelah said the cake was in celebration of 10 years of the City of Literature.

"It is a treat from us."