Inspired by a 17th century Japanese painting, we first created The PoeTree Project at Studio PAUSE in April 2014, to celebrate National Poetry Month. It was filled it with the poems of 120 first-graders from Arlington’s Oakridge Elementary School. This year, elementary school children from Gates of Ballston apartment community wrote their poems about spring to celebrate the cherry blossom trees in their community, Arlington high-schoolers wrote haikus–in multiple languages—to tell how they felt this spring, and adults shared their memories through haikus too.

The PoeTree, in its newest form, is being created by artist Sharmila Karamchandani at the Columbia Pike Studio. It will be decorated with poems written by people from all over Arlington, celebrating and sharing the creativity in our community!

Join us to meet local poets, hear the poems from The PoeTree, and enjoy light refreshments.