Spray Painted Poems

Hello! My name is Bre Legan (aka Beedle. the poet) and I am a creative young professional living, working, and studying here in Milwaukee, WI. I am currently in my final year of my Masters program at Marquette University, studying Communication and Social & Economic Justice through the Trinity Fellowship program. I am also serving as Woodland Pattern Book Center’s inaugural Emerging Poet Fellow for the 2022-2023 period. Through this fellowship, I have the support and opportunity to create a community poetry project. My project has manifested in several pieces, and I’ve nicknamed this part, “Spray Painted Poems”.

Spray Painted Poems is, at its core, spray painted poems - specifically, short poems spray painted on sidewalks. My goal is to create a map of Milwaukee neighborhoods, starting with Riverwest, in partnership with local businesses and organizations to produce a "poetry walk" through the neighborhood(s) with short poems/pieces of poems spray painted onto the sidewalks. These poems are being sourced from the Milwaukee community from artists, poets, musicians, and other creatives (aka YOU!).

I’m looking for poems, lyrics, and short phrases that seek to celebrate and uplift those who read them. Work that causes readers to pause in contemplation is also wonderful! Please keep poetry submissions “PG” - being mindful that the pieces have the potential of being seen by a wide audience of all ages, genders, racial and ethnic identities, political ideologies, religions, etc. Let’s decorate Milwaukee with messages of hope, not division. 

I was first inspired to create this project by an Instagram account called PoetryByBoots, who is a traveling poet that uses stencils to spray paint short lines of poetry onto sidewalks and other surfaces. Constructing intimate lines of poetry that are then situated in highly trafficked areas you only see when you’re looking down creates profound singular moments of recognition.

The physical act of spray painting poems onto the sidewalks of Riverwest will take place throughout the month of May - with the bulk of painting occuring on Sunday, May 28th. The finished project will officially be presented on June 18th at Woodland Pattern Book Center, where there will be self-guided tours of the poetry walk during the day (with a physical map for folks to follow with details on the poets and businesses) and a formal program in the evening where there will be live music and poetry, along with a Q&A from me about the project. 

Above are mockup images of the project.

Below are images from PoetryByBoots' Instagram page, as an example of the work that inspired this project.