Rain Poetry

It’s raining poetry in Pennsylvania!

PA Humanities is engaging children from across Pennsylvania in a hands-on community poetry activity facilitated by local poets and teaching artists. This innovative project started in Philadelphia in 2023, when we engaged elementary school students from five neighborhoods to learn about haiku then write their very own poems. Selected haiku were installed on the ground in public spaces, including neighborhood parks and libraries, with a special rain-activated solution that allows the poetry to appear like magic just by adding some water!

The beauty of Rain Poetry is that it not only gives young people the opportunity to explore their voices and express themselves through poetry, but also transforms everyday spaces into opportunities to engage with the humanities and foster learning and conversation. Each installation gets its very own community reveal celebration, inviting families, friends and neighbors to connect and celebrate the work of young people.

Rain Poetry expanded to Pittsburgh and Johnstown in 2024, and Reading in 2025!

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Check out our Cities

Philadelphia

PA Humanities engaged children from five Philadelphia neighborhoods in a hands-on community poetry activity facilitated by local poets and Youth Poets Laureate. Haiku created by students grades 1-5 were installed in public spaces by Tiny WPA with a special rain-activated solution. They are inspired by the theme, “What helps you keep growing?” The initiative included local community events and a citywide celebration at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Pittsburgh

Our next stop for Rain Poetry was Pittsburgh in the spring of 2024. We partnered with Assemble (Garfield), YouthPlaces Northview Heights and YMCA Lighthouse Project (Homewood/Brushton), three dynamic afterschool programs that serve a wide variety of youth. Our teaching artist, Karen Howard, worked with students ranging from elementary school to high school, writing on themes that mattered most to the youth and their communities. Check out our Pittsburgh page to learn more about the individual sites and partners.

Johnstown

Rain Poetry also came to Johnstown in 2024. We partnered with the Children’s Book Festival, Cambria County Library and Bottle Works to host workshops for children and teens led by teaching artists Aspen Mock, Denise Urban and Eric Schwerer, and their poems were installed outside the Bottle Works and in the library’s Storywalk along the Johnstown Greenways Trail.

Reading

In 2025, we partnered with Reading Public Library to host bilingual workshops at St. Peter’s School, Lauer’s Park Elementary School, and the main branch and Northeast branches of the library. Berks County Poet Laureate Adrian Perez-Roman – aka Apito – and Caitlin Johnson, youth services supervisor at the library, guided students to explore the theme “the colors of my city” and their work will be installed and displayed through the fall.

Young poets share the ‘colors of their city’ in Reading

Adrian Perez-Roman has lived in Reading his whole life and heard many different opinions and thoughts about the place he calls home. Hearing what the young people participating in recent Rain Poetry workshops had to say about their city, however, brought nothing but smiles.

Rain Poetry project in Johnstown concludes with special book celebration

Young poets who took part in PA Humanities’ Rain Poetry project in Johnstown in 2024 gathered at the Cambria County Library in April to receive their copies of the booklet containing all of the poems written as part of the project, and celebrate the power of self-expression through haiku one more time.

Invisible poems, visible joy: Johnstown celebrates Rain Poetry

Children who participated in Rain Poetry Johnstown and their families were all smiles during the big reveal celebration where students got to see their words shared with the community in this special installation.

Haikus to hit the street in Johnstown with Rain Poetry

“It was a dynamic workshop, the students were joyfully engaged with the project and it was amazing to have them walk into a workshop and walk out as poets with a polished, publishable poem."

Students celebrate their words coming to life at Rain Poetry reveal in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood

This is the opportunity to take your ideas and bring them to life in something that is beyond a piece of paper."

Hidden haikus shine through in latest Rain Poetry celebration

“We now have three public spaces throughout Philadelphia where people can engage with the humanities and enjoy and appreciate the creative work made by young people from their neighborhood."

David Jones, Rain Poetry inspire Philly youth to ‘keep growing’ through art of haiku

David Jones was named Philadelphia’s third Youth Poet Laureate as a 17-year-old in 2015, and today he continues to share his love of poetry with others.

Rain Poetry ‘surprises’ delight community at Vernon Park

With the Philadelphia debut of Rain Poetry, visitors to Vernon Park in Germantown will now find poetry written by students from nearby Emlen Elementary School stenciled on the ground right next to the park’s beautiful rain garden and in front of the steps to the Center in the Park.