Writing Water: Rain, River, Reef
Is it here we go,
when water takes its leave,
seeping unseen
to the deepest place.
There is nothing heavier than a river.
~ Georgina Reid from 'There is Nothing Heavier Than a River'
From cloud forests to flood, water connects us in every sense
Red Room Poetry’s Writing Water: Rain, River, Reef project is commissioning celebrated poets and inviting public submissions that look below the surface and reimagine our essential relationships with water. From the slow-moving waters of TarraWarra in Victoria to the extinction of corals and conversations with wetlands in Western Australia, poems are provocations to honour, remember and interrogate our responsibilities with water in a time of environmental change.
Writing Water chapbook | Now available
From rain, rivers and reefs to tidal pools and coastal shelves, the Writing Water chapbook is a bespoke collection of 24 poems, written by commissioned and public poets about their relationship with our earth's most precious resource, water. BUY ONLINE >>
Produced with sustainability and community at its heart, Writing Water was created with the Rizzeria using natural dyes and a handprinted Risograph stencil process, giving it a lovely hand-crafted texture that may remain on your fingertips. We hope that each poem serves as a reminder of how water should be held in the hand, gently and with gratitude.
Discover poems by:
Eunice Andrada
Tony Birch
Luke Davies
Georgina Reid
Brooke Scobie
Claire Albrecht
Magdalena Ball
Jane Gibian
Anne Casey
J V Birch
Anna Jacobson
Duy Quang Mai
Raynen Bajette O’Keefe
Jenny Pollak
Esther Ottaway
Paris Lay-Yee
Margaret Owen Ruckert
Sara Morgillo
Anastasia Radievska
Peter Mitchell
Sean West
Ann Shenfield
Anne Elvey
Shona Hawkes
Eunice Andrada
Tony Birch
Luke Davies
Georgina Reid
Nicole Smede
Poems
answer , the poem begins with a breathing reef , sanctuary , How Water Works , Black Ophelia , Birrarung Billabong , PYROCENE TRIPTYCH , There is Nothing Heavier Than a River , Avicennia marina , Low Tide in the MangrovesWorkshop with Eunice Andrada | Wednesday 12 August
Award-winning Filipina poet Eunice Andrada led an immersive Writing Water workshop designed to help us explore our relationships with water in all its forms: as witness, giver, receiver. 65 participants came together to create unique poems for consideration in the Red Room Poetry Writing Water chapbook.
Poems float on Sydney Ferries
Noticed anything new on your ferry commute? To celebrate World Poetry Day and the launch of Writing Water, poems sailed on Sydney Ferries throughout March. In November, the published chapbooks were hand-delivered by the RR team to some ferry commuters on Transport NSW’s F4 Cross Harbour Ferry. On the journey, we met a fellow poet, a photographer, ferry workers and a youth worker, with whom we shared this incredible collection of poems.
Partners and Supporters
Writing Water: Rain, River, Reef is supported by generous individuals, TarraWarra Museum of Art for the TarraWarra Biennial 2020 and our major partners:
