By WILL CHASE
The city of Laurel Arts Council and Laurel for the Patuxent have teamed up for a joint project highlighting poetry and beautifying local parks.
The project kicked off with a workshop on April 5 led by Jennifer Shannon, a Laurel Arts Council member, and Cheryl Dyer, who is with Laurel for Patuxent.
“This is a new workshop for us. We organized it because first, April is National Poetry Month, and second, one of our newer members is a writer and poet and is well suited to lead the workshop,” Melissa Holland said. Holland is with the arts council.
Shannon, an award-winning poet and writer, opened the workshop with a discussion on how to write a poem, and participants got busy, putting their thoughts and images into words.
Everyone could create an origami booklet for their poem, if they wished — Dyer demonstrated the folding technique to make one. Participants also had the option of writing their poems on scrolls made from natural, biodegradable materials. Those who were eager to share their work will see their scrolls hanging in a pavilion at Sweitzer Park, where the arts council and Laurel for the Patuxent will celebrate the project by unveiling a picnic table featuring a nature poem on a metal panel.
“With the nature scrolls hanging and flapping in the wind, it will be eye-catching,” Dyer said. “I would love to be a fly on the wall and see people discover a poem on a picnic table. I think it is going to be a lot of fun.”
A local poet wrote the poem featured on this first table. The two groups plan to showcase more tables featuring poems by regional poets for other Laurel parks with pavilions.
“Each park has a little different flavor; we’re trying to fit each poem to the location,” Dyer said. She is leading the effort along with Shannon and Holland. They see the project as a way to build community. “These are the two things I love bringing together — the nature world and the community.”
The poem unveiling will take place at 11 a.m. on April 26 at Roland B. Sweitzer Community Park, Old Sandy Spring Road.
-Katie V. Jones contributed to this story.
