Planting Seeds and Inviting Possibilities

3 Ways to Participate Redmond Poetry: Planting Seeds and Inviting Possibilities:

  1. Join us at Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park on April 24 from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. to walk through the prompts with Laura Da'!
  2. Come to Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park any time from April 24 through September 2 and follow the prompts along the walkway from the parking lot to the flag pole.
  3. Participate from anywhere by doing the following:

STEP ONE: Find a spot in nature that speaks to you. This could be your own backyard, a park, a trail, or anywhere outdoors.

STEP TWO: Center your writing experience by answering the following questions for yourself.

  • Where are you in time and space? Are you at home? What is the season? How do you know where you are on the land?
  • What is growing near you right now?
  • What sounds do you notice?

STEP THREE: Follow the prompts below. Write as much or as little as you would like for each prompt. Notice the way your choices guide the images, words, and direction of your writing.

  • Pick a word and write it down: Spring, Frost, or May
    • If you picked Spring: Begin with an image of a plan you can see
    • If you picked Frost: Begin with a description of the weather
    • If you picked May: Begin with the image of a plan budding up from the ground
  • Pick a word and write it down: Fern, Fir, or Cedar
    • If you picked Fern: Add detail about the ground/earth
    • If you picked Fir: Add detail about the sky
    • If you picked Cedar: Add details about both the ground and the sky
  • Pick a word and write it down: Squirrel, Horse, or Butterfly
    • If you picked Squirrel: Add an action to the poem by explaining how you or something else is moving 
    • If you picked Horse: Add sound to the poem by describing something you can hear 
    • If you picked Butterfly: Add a scent to the poem by describing something you can smell 
  • Pick a word and write it down: Raven, Sparrow, or Wind
    • If you picked Raven: Add the moon to your poem 
    • If you picked Sparrow: Add the sun to your poem 
    • If you picked Wind: Add the moon and the sun to your poem 
  • Pick a word and write it down: Honey, Salt, or Coffee
    • If you picked Honey: End your poem with a sweet memory of the land you are now experiencing 
    • If you picked Salt: End your poem with a question about the land you are now experiencing 
    • If you picked Coffee: End your poem in the first light of dawn on the land you are now experiencing 

STEP FOUR: Reflect and elaborate on the following questions.

  • What do you know about the land that you wrote about?
  • What is your personal story with this land?
  • What beings, plants, and ecosystems does this land sustain?
  • What are the cultural histories of this land?
  • How did writing about this place make you feel?

STEP FIVE: If you'd like to share, post your writing and your experience with this exercise on your social media and tag us @RedmondParks #RedmondPoetry

Or, follow along with Laura Da's video below by downloading the PDF worksheet version of this activity.