Serendipitous Poetry

Santa Fe students find inspiration in unusual times.

Even in challenging and unusual times, there is much to be grateful for. As students gathered online for this winter’s poetry units of study with ArtWorks, an arts education program of the Partners in Education Foundation for the Santa Fe Public Schools, I invited them to put on goggles of gratitude to look out at the world and create odes, or poems of celebration.

Our inspiration was poet, grandmother and teaching artist Joan Logghe, who read us poems that included an ode to water and an ode to a New Mexican hero — the pinto bean! Ms. Logghe also shared her magical animal poetry, in which a raven and a coyote spoke to us of their unique movements and flashing colors.

In some classes, we focused our praise on different forms of water, sparked by Ms. Logghe’s salute to water, in which she spoke to and questioned water about its many forms and sounds. You will see that other classes expanded the scope of their odes to address other non-human subjects.

We hope that the poetry in the Made With Serendipity Art & Poetry Anthology 2020-2021 inspires a grateful gaze at this textured and sonically surprising world. The visual art in this book was created during ArtWorks units of study, where works of art were explored with visual teaching artists Wendy Chapin, Gregory Gutin, Claire LaRose and Lucy Ranney. ​

Tumbleweeds has selected 6 poems from the anthology to share with our readers.
​For a complete copy, email ArtWorks’ Program Director Erin De Rosa.