Princeton Public Library was fortunate to have Dara-Lyn Shrager as our first poet-in-residence in fall 2018. One of our programs during this period was a "Poet-tree" art installation created by community members of all ages.
The program began with a weekend workshop exploring a variety of poetic forms. It was attended by children with their parents as well as some seniors and teens. The purpose of the workshop was to learn, have fun and get the art installation started by writing original poems on colorful paper leaves to be hung with yarn from a potted branch in our lobby to form the Poet-tree.
We placed the Poet-tree next to our Welcome Desk on the first floor. The art installation reversed nature’s fall seasonal progression, starting off bare and filling with leaves throughout October and November. We had baskets of leaves with instructions at each public service desk so patrons could add leaves at any time. After six weeks, we had more than 125 leaves of poetry, written by poets with an age range from 4 to 94.
In this passive program, Princeton Public Library invited patrons to fill branches with leaves of poetry.