You are here — Poet Laureate Ada Limón and Poetry in Nature

“Poetry ignites a place in you that is receptive to a deeper kind of attention. And sitting and reading a poem, even a very short one, can allow you to receive the world in a different way.”

—Ada Limón, 24th US Poet Laureate

You might recall from my last post July 6 that I was taking a summer sabbatical to work on a collection of my poetry. I’m happy to report that I made significant progress…I completed the design for the sections and have entered all the poems into InDesign where I am formatting the book with help from a dear friend. 

In working with my own poetry, I turned to several of my favorite poets, especially for inspiration on the artistry and craft of how they structured their books. I also discovered poets who were new to me as I explored my particular genre, Nature—Poetry…writers like Heather Swan, author of the beautiful book Where the Grass Still Sings: Stories of Insects and Interconnection that combines narrative, poetry, and art into an inspiring volume. Ben Okri received the Booker Prize for his book Tiger Work: Stories, Essays and Poems about Climate Change. 

As Ada Limón says so clearly, reading a poem can allow you to receive the world in a different way, an experience so necessary today in our media-saturated world. Revisiting familiar poets and meeting new ones has been a gift of this time dedicated to bringing my own book of poetry into the world.

I have been awestruck by a few artists who have that same effect on me—allowing me to receive the world in a different way.

Top of the list: the extraordinary Liz Sexton, and the amazing street artist Kaybid.

Liz Sexton’s blue dasher dragonfly mask left me speechless (which is rare). She writes in her comment on this incredible mask: Dragonfly’s compound eyes are made up of up to 30,000 hexagonal facets. I only managed to hand paint around 12,000, so apologies for the lack of accuracy. 

Just wow. 

And Kaybid…see for yourself. Watch the video! Seriously. Take 9 minutes to watch it. If you don’t have time now, bookmark it and come back to it. And you’ll find some short little animations of Kaybid’s work here on IG.

Be well. Thank you for your curiosity and making time to read The Interconnect. Welcome to the new readers. I’m glad you’ve found your way here and I hope you stay a while. Please consider sharing this post with family, friends, teachers, and/or colleagues who might appreciate it and put it to work.