Event Type
Poet Ross Gay once said, “Poems are made of breath. So poems are bodily in themselves. And when we read them to other people, they become part of other people's bodies. Or when we read other people's lives, the way they've constructed a poem, we're breathing them.”
The idea of poetry garden is to bring together a community of writers to help feed plants with our voices. We inhale what they exhale and what we breathe gives life to our friends and the earth. The words we write can help give life to each other and the plants. It’s a cyclical process of healing ourselves and our environment.
Louisiana is, in many ways, a greenhouse for both plantlife and poets. Inspired by the rich breadth and depth of vegetation in this state, the poetry garden is an homage to home-grown poetry; poetry that speaks to the here and now; poetry that is made in community. The poetry garden workshop will ask participants to join in community; write nature as they see it; and speak life into the air. This one and a half hour workshop includes reading and crafting poems together with the plants, engaging with the beautiful nature that surrounds us. By engaging in the active practice of reading poetry to plants, participants will walk away with a newfound appreciation for the ordinary and extraordinary environment that surrounds them.
