September 13, 2026 @ 10:00am – 12:00pm (Duration: 2 Hours)
Poetry in the Gardens Workshop 2: Found Poetry
Register Now:Inspired by the poetic installation “look after your heart” by Arisa White, this series of poetry workshops explores poetic forms: the mirror poem, found poetry, and the creation of your own poetic form. Each approach was developed in the making of “look after your heart,” centering love, care, and collective and ecological healing. The Gardens offers a creative atmosphere to see and hear the “tree†in poetry and the “eco†in poetic.
Workshop 2: Found Poetry
With found poetry, you work with existing text to construct a poem. You may rearrange a series of quotations, erase parts of a text, or collage letters and words. The song “grand evolve,†which accompanies “look after your heart,” was created using found poetry techniques. The lyrics resulted from collaging, remixing, and anagramming the common and Latin names of plants in the woodland gardens. You will use the Gardens as your alphabet and dictionary to create poems that experiment with perspective and voice.
Receive an additional $10 off per workshop at checkout when all three are purchased together.
Instructor Bio(s)
Arisa White is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Colby College. She is the author of Who’s Your Daddy, co-editor of Home Is Where You Queer Your Heart, and co-author of Biddy Mason Speaks Up, the second book in the Fighting for Justice Series for young readers. Post Pardon: The Opera marked Arisa’s debut as a librettist, and the libretto is forthcoming from Ecstatic Motion Press in 2026. Her poetry is widely published, and her collections have been nominated for both the NAACP Image Award and the Lambda Literary Award. She has also won the Per Diem Poetry Prize, the Maine Literary Award, the Nautilus Book Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, the Golden Crown Literary Award, and the Airlie Press Prize. The poem installation, look after your heart, is permanently displayed at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. She is a Cave Canem fellow and serves on the Community Advisory Board for Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. arisawhite.com
Materials and Equipment Needed
Come prepared with the writing materials you need; a hand-sized notebook is ideal as you move and write around the Gardens.