They had to compete with rap music coming from a nearby bar, and an audience of just two people, but a group of poets bravely took their art to the Octagon last night.
They performed their poems while teenage girls watched archly over their shoulders, and nearby drinkers obliviously drank.
They performed works from Monty Python to Roald Dahl, to 17th-century English metaphysical poet John Donne.
And Pay-Per-View Poetry will offer their services to anyone.
You just have to give them a little money.
The busking-style event has been popping up around the city since the Fringe Festival began.
The performers choose a space and place three suitcases, each one with a coin slot and a theme on the front.
When someone puts a coin in one of the cases a performer will step up and perform a poem.
Theatre student Andrew Brinsley-Pirie said the group of nine poets, which included performers whose day jobs ranged from teachers to scaffolders, wanted to take poetry to the people.
''We just wanted to see how putting poetry on the street, like performance poetry, would work.
''There's always been a few people, there's never been no-one.
''We're working on growing that number.
''We're still working on our tactics.''
Members of the group had performed in the Octagon, outside the Dunedin Public Library and planned to entertain outside Fringe Festival events.
