Engaging with Place-Based Poetry:  Reading, Writing, and Reciting
 

What is inspiring about the place where you call home?  Is it the natural world, the history, maybe a little of both, or something else altogether? 

Poetry can connect us to ourselves, our community, and our home. It can offer its readers and writers unique ways to access and express thoughts and feelings.  There are so many different ways to create and interact with poetry.  For some simple poetry writing ideas, you can look through some examples of the many types of poems or check out the poem below, written by REACH staff members, for some inspiration.  To take your poetry to another level, to explore spoken word poetry, or to meet some local poets, check out these resources: 

• Arts WA – Poetry Out Loud 
• 5 Tips for Teaching Poetry to Your Students 
• Washington’s Poet Laureate 
• Poems About Nature 
• Poems About Climate Change 

Nature Finds Me 

 Nature finds me,
Everywhere.
When I retreat inside to hide from the world,
Angry at reality.
I notice it.  Sprouting,
From the cracks in the sidewalks.
I see it.  Perched,
Feathers fluffed on a light post.
I feel it.  Blasting my cheeks
With fine, airborne sand
As I wander to the mailbox.
I feel it. Warm and constant.
A burning heat on the backs of my legs,
My feet cooling in the swirling river.
I smell it.
French fries, onions,
And when I am really lucky,
Petrichor,
The sweet smell of earth and plants
After rain.
I hear it.  Deafening, flowing, hushed.
A jumbled tumble of pebbles
Pulled by river currents,
Skipping through deep channels.
I taste it.  Sweet and bitter.
Fruits of the floods,
Food grown in fertile, sun drenched soil,
Created from catastrophe.
Yes, nature finds me.
It stops me short, shouting
Look! Listen! Taste! Touch! Smell!
I always welcome it.
It pulls me urgently, blissfully,
Back to here and now.

Learn more about the REACH Museum’s First Annual Earth Day Poetry Slam HERE!