Join Tara Broderick, Shaker Heights resident and Certified Poetic Medicine Practitioner as we experience the power of poetry to deepen our connection to the natural world and our understanding of how our outer and inner landscapes relate to each other. Each session throughout the series includes reading poetry from a packet (provided to each participant), time for poem writing, and optional sharing of poems in a safe space.

Registration required. $20 per session or $95 for the entire series. Members save 20%

Members: To receive your discount, use coupon code "Member" at checkout. 

September 28 - Poetry Series: Hike and Write

Take a reflective walk with all your senses through the Nature Center, read poems that heighten awareness of the natural world, and then return to the Nature Center to write and share (sharing is optional) poems.

”To look at anything, If you would know that thing, You must look at it long...”- John Moffett

October 5 - Poetry Series: Our Stories of Water  

Water is the “elixir of life” and critical to our well-being. Read poems about water – lakes, streams, and rivers – just to name a few, and then explore your own healing stories of water.

“...I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water...” Wendell Berry

October 12 - Poetry Series: Our Inner Birdsong 

Tune into the sights and sounds of birds at the Nature Center or in your backyard and then write about the impact of our changing climate on birds or about songs emerging in your own life.

“...I seemed to float, to be, myself, a wing or a tree —and I began to understand what the bird was saying...” - Mary Oliver

October 19 - Poetry Series: Go Among Trees  

Feel the living presence of trees and the woods and write about your relationship to trees, or a particular tree.

“... Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you.” – David Wagoner

October 26 -Poetry Series: Trails to Self  

Experience the peace of a walking meditation. Consider where the trail leads and ask if there is a metaphor for your journey.

“ This is the way to walk a trail. Slowly, reverently In Silence...”- Carol Ann Sokoloff

November 2 -  Poetry Series: Wild Things 

Enjoy observing the animal life in and around Shaker Lakes. Consider what you can learn from observing the fauna with whom we share the earth. Is there an animal you particularly relate to?

“ I am an angle of geese in the winter sky/I am the hunger of a young wolf/ I am the winter sky/I am the whole dream of these things...I stand in good relation to the earth...” - N. Scott Momaday