We Are Here! Big Read
The We Are Here: Big Read is a series of programming celebrating how nature and art help us connect to ourselves, our surroundings, and each other. It is funded through the NEA Big Read grant managed by Arts Midwest.
If nature could talk, what would it say?
Or, if you had something to say to nature: Where would you begin? What shape would it take?
The "We Are Here" Big Read is inspired by "Poetry in the Parks," led by the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, Ada Limón. As part of this project, Limón asked all people, poets and non-poets alike, to respond to this prompt:
What would you write in response to the landscape around you?
Now, we are challenging you to do the same. You can post your poems or art on social media using the hashtag #WeAreHerePoetry.
Don't forget to join us for poetry and zine workshops, poetry readings, nature walks, open mics, book discussions, and more!
Central to these programs is an anthology of poetry collected by Limon, titled You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World. Pick up your copy at The B Store at 701 N. Main in Princeton, IL!
Why Poetry?
Let's let Limon take that question:
"How can a poem make a difference? How can a tree make a difference?
Perhaps the answer to those questions is that poetry and nature have a way of simply reminding us that we are not alone.
The Kentucky writer bell hooks once wrote, “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.” Going to the woods, or simply noticing the small defiant ways nature is thriving all around me on a daily basis, helps me feel that communion.
And poems, like the poems that I’ve collected here for this anthology, help me feel that sense of communion too."
(From "Introduction," You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World)
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May 30, 2026
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We are all poets.
Did you know that the word poem comes from an ancient Greek word meaning "to make?" Like nature, poetry doesn't belong to anyone, and there is no one right way to write a poem. That is why this project encourages writers and artists from all over North Central Illinois to create.
Maybe you've never written a poem before in your life. Maybe you hadn't thought about poetry since grade school. It's a strange, outdated art form! Oh no, poems thrive when we see them together.
Don't believe us? Listen to Ada Limon and Joy Harjo.
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