Poetic Minds Blossom At Sylvan Gardens

CHATHAM – Sylvan Gardens offers a perfect place to find respite from the traffic, noise, and congestion of summer. Through the hard work of Eldredge Public Library, Chatham Conservation Foundation, and the Friends of Sylvan Gardens, the conservation area is hosting a self-guided Poetry Walk, providing an opportunity for everyone to reconnect with nature while connecting to their inner poet.

Following the Black Pond Loop, the main path in the Sylvan Gardens network, visitors will find posts each bearing two poems scattered along their route. Each set of poems includes one for beginner readers and one for those more advanced, creating a “multigenerational” poetry walk experience.

At the trailhead, a kiosk contains a communal notebook as well as pens, pamphlets, and bookmarks. Visitors are encouraged to help themselves to the informational material while leaving their own poems, musings, or feedback in the journal provided, sort of like a creative guest book.

This is the second time the poetry walk has been held at Sylvan Gardens, a fact event organizer Lauren Shea is ecstatic about. “This place is just so magical…It’s really like fairyland in there,” she said.

The library, through its youth summer program, hopes to instill in young minds the wonder and adventure that can be found through the written word. This literary adventure comes to life as visitors trek through the beautiful lush system of trails, seeing the uniquely expansive collection of flora, taking in the spectacular view of Black Pond, and relaxing on a bench to watch the butterflies, each spot complimented by a corresponding poem.

But this collaborative mission is about more than simply sharing the tranquil, untamed elegance of the Sylvan estate.

“We are working to spread literacy and get people out in nature, off their screens,” said Shea. “[The poetry walk] is bringing poetry and literacy to a different context, outside of a library or school. I hope that inspires people, gets them to slow down.”

As conducive as this walk may be to self-growth and introspection, it also provides an opportunity to build community. Utilizing the empowerment associated with literacy and communication, set against the unifying beauty of nature, the library and its collaborators hope that the poetry walk will allow people of all backgrounds and viewpoints to find common ground, whether through reading, writing or a mutual appreciation of the natural world.

“We try to be a neutral source for everybody, really a community hub,” said Shea. “It is important to us to create a place for everyone to come together.”

Assembling the walk has been no small feat for Shea and her team. “We do it all ourselves, sourcing the poems and installing them,” she said. With immense thought and care, this year’s poetry walk has a diverse selection of works spanning both time and genre. “I really wanted, this year, to bring in some newer, younger, up-and-coming poets,” said Shea. “I wanted to bring in something new, to provoke some more thought, wonder, maybe a little whimsy.”

Shea and her crew aim to keep the poetry walk up until Columbus Day, but due to the exhibit’s vulnerability to the elements, this end date may vary. Located at 86 Old Main St. with several on-street parking spots, Sylvan Gardens is waiting to awaken your inner poet.