The Poetry Fence Comes to Arlington!
“You amble by on foot, but sometimes drive by or run by and are stopped in your tracks. What is this place that beckons to you to stop and read and meditate?
If you see the woman who curates
this fence, be sure to call to her
and talk a while.”
~ Renée Adams
The Poetry Fence
comes to Arlington!
March - May 2025
Renée Adams, the poet, creator and curator of The Poetry Fence in Del Ray, Alexandria, calls it her analog blog. I first experienced the Poetry Fence through a Writing PAUSE session in her garden, thanks to an introduction by her neighbor LouLou Marino. On the fence, Renée shares the work of famous poets, poets from her neighborhood, her own poems, and so much more. As I was thinking on this year’s theme of State, City, Street, and how I could reach beyond Arlington to find creativity, storytelling, and joy in connecting with community, I wondered if The Poetry Fence could come to Arlington. I was thrilled when she agreed!
In this exhibit we showcase 16 years of The Poetry Fence through stories of its visitors, poems shared on “the Avenue,” Gumball Poetry in cafes, and a mini version of the fence shown at the library. Photos and decorations take us across seasons, while the pond, the Poetry Mailbox and the Little Free Library invite us to interact. We created our version of the fence using brown papers that have covered our tables since we opened this location, on which visitors doodled and wrote. It allows our community to mix with Renée’s!
~ Sushmita Mazumdar, Artistic Director, Studio PAUSE
Renée Adams, 2023
Reading Poetry & Sharing Imagery by Renée Adams
At the end of the exhibit we have included an audio visual treat for those who want to put on headphones and sit listening to Renée read a selection of poems. In this video, poems she's chosen for the fence and each season, are matched with her photographs and some beautiful music. Thanks to LouLou for creating it. Click to enjoy!
One Fence Inspires Another
2018: To celebrate five years of Studio PAUSE curator and PAUSEr Carson Herrington asked PAUSErs what the two colors of the Studio—Baked Clay and Endless Sky—meant to them. Kara Billings, a PAUSEr, was attending graduate school at George Mason University. She said that to create her artwork she wanted to study the trees in Arlington, as this was her home now. She and Sush went to Lubber Run park and studied and photographed the trees. Another PAUSEr, Cecilia Kalish, had left behind some old abstarct paintings on canvas, and on one of those Kara found a yellow circle which reminded her of the sun. She created her artwork of a tree on that canvas.
From our Archives: 2018
Baked Clay/Endless Sky: Celebrating 5 Years of Studio Pause, Center Gallery, Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, VA, April 15 - June 2, 2018
“Connect” by Kara Billings Mixed media on canvas
Trees are present throughout our lives. They reflect humanity’s markings and damage, preserving and transforming it in time. This artwork is made from the butcher paper that covers the tables at Studio Pause (and the butcher paper, of course, orignates from trees). It holds the doodles, ideas, and thoughts of various Studio-goers and keeps them for others to see long after we forgot we made them. Like my revelation about another Pauser’s photographs of walls, that I finally realized after years of seeing them, they represent what we leave behind: the messes we make without knowing it and the evidence of lives lived.
Trees also symbolize connection and growth. They connect earth and sky. They are affected by countless seasons. When I tried to envision what the Studio is I pictured something that has grown and taken root in our community through the seemingly simple act of sharing. And beyond sharing, collaboration: that what we share changes us and affects where our thoughts will lead us next. There is also the mystery of not knowing which words or images will resonate with someone.
About the Artist
Photos, right: Kara Billings creating "Connect" at Studio PAUSE, Arlington, VA 2018; a close-up of “Connect”, and Kara with her artwork in the exhibit at UUCA.
Kara has been attending Studio Pause since the Studio* opened down the street from her in September 2013, soon after she first moved to the D.C. area. Since that time she had witnessed a community grow and change around the studio, now more vibrant than ever but still with the same magic that was there in month one. Kara considers herself to be a writer, not an artist, but wouldn’t miss the opportunity to contribute to the 5-year celebration of the Studio and what Sush has brought to the Arlington community.
2025: To create our fence for the exhibit, we got thick big sheets of foam core and then Sush was inspired by Kara’s 2018 artwork Connect! We had all the butcher paper we would need from our new location. And tree wood is what Renée’s cedar fence was made of. As we found Kara’s text from a past exhibit we found so many ways to “connect”!
LouLou measured and cut the boards, and Sush started to tear and glue the paper to them. Kara and her daughter Shay came in to start us off, bringing in the new generation, as so many of Renée’s stories are about. Other PAUSErs—Kathy, Sharmila, Sarita, Kryzal, Samita, Cecilia, and Shari—came in to help as well. The Studio community built the fence which would hold the stories of the Poetry fence community!
Photos: At left, Kara and her daughter Shay pick sections they like from butcher paper at the Studio and glue them onto the white fence; right, Shari stops by to help create the fence; below, Sarita and her daughter Samita pick out sections to create the fence during Family Art PAUSE.
Community PAUSE
The exhibit opening for “The Poetry Fence Comes to Arlington!” was held at Studio PAUSE on Columbia Pike on Saturday afternoon, March 8th, 2025. We celebrated Renée’s lifelong love of poetry and 16 years of the Poetry Fence and its community.
It was amazing to see everyone who showed up—people who were featured in Renee’s stories, children who had grown up with the neighborhood fence, and long-time PAUSErs and friends. Below are some of the photos!
1. The photos opens with Sushmita Mazumdar welcoming the guests and giving them the background about the exhibit.
2. She invited Renée to share the story of her Poetry Fence. On the left we see a guest who later would join Renée as she recited a poem from memory!
3. Many of the guests were in the exhibit, although from many years ago, like the mom, Pallavi, with her two daughters. In the exhibit the girls are little and it was wonderful to see their continuous engagement with the Poetry fence.
4. A neighbor of Renée’s gets herself some Gumball Poetry. She had told Renée about seeing this idea somewhere and had encouraged her to try it. We are so glad she did!
5.
From our Archives
2014: Writing Pause at Renée Adams’ Poetry Fence + Garden
LouLou had first told us about the Poetry Fence in Del Ray, Alexandria, in 2014. It was in her neighborhood and she knew Renée. We wondered how it would be for our Writing PAUSE group to meet and write in her garden…
2025: We have documented the email exchange between the PAUSErs and Renée after their visit to her garden, along with the writings and some photos, and included it in the exhibit. Thanks to Sharmila for keeping these old emails! Unfortunately none of us had records of LouLou’s writings.
Renée added a few fairy poems to go with the binder of poems from 2014.
Photos, right: Sharmila listens to Renée reading in her garden, Kori shares her thoughts among art supplies and refreshments, and Sush, LouLou, and Yuri pose as evening sets in.
People stop by and the stories continue…
It was amazing to see everyone who showed up—people who were featured in Renee’s stories, children who had grown up with the neighborhood fence, and long-time PAUSErs and friends. Below are some of the photos!Stephen, who works on the Pike, stopped by and walked straight to the Fall section of the colorful exhibit. “I love fall colors!” he said. “Can you tell?” He enjoyed how his favorite colors were here in the springtime.
Amiya and her mom stopped in. They were visiting Arlington from San Francisco. She picked poems and got a book from the Little Free Library. The Studio was filled with sounds of baby animals from the book and laughter. As I read out the poem Sidewalk Game by Renée Adams, which she got from the Gumball Poetry Machine, she acted it out. Five steps forward if you got the answer right… three steps back if it was wrong… When she found As The Cat (photo) by William Carlos Williams I read it aloud as well and she asked what forefoot was so we acted it all out, including hind. She enjoyed experiencing the poems through movement!
Renée had worked with Del Ray poet Elaina Palincsar whose haikus were part of the exhibit. PAUSEr Jorge Rogachevsky translated some into Spanish. They were easy to pick out as they were printed on off-white paper. Amiya picked out a Spanish haiku for her mom (photo).
Geoff, Renée’s son who is featured in the exhibit, visited with his wife, Jetta. They remembered many childhood stories and fence stories. In the photo Renée poses with her family next to the photo of little Geoff and the little holly tree. Above them is a photo of the holly tree today as it shelters the Poetry Fence.
