Poetry - and Community - in the Garden!

For the past several years, once a month in the summer, the Growing Center has come alive with the spoken word. Poetry in the Garden "open mic" sessions have drawn visitors young and old, some completely new to the space and some who have been attending events for years. The most recent iteration, under the leadership of local poet Aparna Paul, has involved a different theme for each month - but the themes connect across the season. (See the flyer here.)

A poet shares their work at Poetry in the Garden Open Mic in July.

For example, in 2025, each month had an elemental theme: Water in June, Land in July, and Sky in August. The themes are meant to provide loosely suggested overarching topics - and anyone can share their work regardless. Attendees are invited to come listen to talented performers, or take the stage themselves to showcase their writing.

This year, themes were based on time of day. June Theme was Day. For July, Night. And the August theme was Sunrise/Sunset. And despite the June event being postponed to July due to rain, we had some incredible nights of poetry!

The July 14 "Day" poetry open mic was bright & radiant, despite having to wait weeks for it! After the mic, Aparna gave a feature from her debut poetry collection, HOME FREE, with poems about home, identity, and seeking self in an environment of loss. Following that, the group took part in an anthotype art activity where attendees collected leaves, branches, petals and things like a stray water bottle cap and a rubber band from around the Growing Center and then arranged them on turmeric-dyed paper to fade in the sun and leave a design behind.

Found nature on turmeric-dyed paper left to fade in the sun and leave a design behind.

The July 28 event, with the theme of night, saw a full open mic night with poems spanning home, the moon, and sandwiches (!). After the mic, attendees participated in another art activity: "instant" blackout poetry! A blackout poem is where a poet takes an existing text (like an existing poem, a scrap from the newspaper, a paragraph from one's journal) and uses a marker to black out part of the text, forming a new poem with the words that aren't blacked out. Attendees first free-wrote for 10 minutes around the prompt "Night or Knight? Who would win?" and then, instead of using markers, they mixed up some mud and threw it and dripped it on the papers to instantly/randomly black out the text and reveal a new poem.

Mixing up mud to throw at "found" poems!

For folks who didn't want to get their hands dirty, Shivank graciously offered to throw mud at their poems; for folks who wanted to get their hands dirty, there was ample opportunity!

The final event in August was themed on Sunrise/Sunset. Leaders asked attendees to bring poems (covers or originals) about the transitions between night and day; how things stay still but change in the light; what the sun on the horizon looks like to you; or anything else.

August's open mic saw 25 attendees, plus four curious neighbors who stopped by to learn more about the Growing Center. This is something our evening events tend to do - draw people in to the garden who have never been before.

The night's art activity drew on the theme of sunrise/sunset. "We decided to do something around change: at the beginning of the mic, participants would walk around and write (around a couple different prompts) about anything they notice in the space," said Aparna. "And then at the end of the mic, they'd walk around again and return to those same places to write about how those things changed."

There were a lot of other firsts that night, as well.

The final Poetry in the Garden Open Mic on August 25.

"Half of those who attended shared their work, and half of the folks who shared had never been (or ever done an open mic) before," said Rachel Alexander, the event's volunteer host/coordinator. "Kudos to Aparna and Amy Argentar for creating a welcoming, inclusive space and bringing good energy that encouraged others to join in!"

These events are meant to provide a night of creativity and expression, and anyone is welcome to attend. Whether you're a seasoned poet or just starting out, poetry open mics are the perfect opportunity to share one's work with a supportive audience, connect with fellow poetry lovers and immerse oneself in the power of spoken word. See you next year for more Poetry in the Garden!