Explore the concept of place and the living network of flora and fauna at Stoneleigh—bog garden, pergola, and meadow. Under Cathy’s guidance, you’ll experiment with free-writes and word hoards to generate journal entries that may become poetry or prose and use short passages from Thoreau’s Journal and various poets and writers as prompts for wonder, wandering, and writing.

Catherine Staples’ newest poetry collection, Vert, came out in May 2024. She’s the author of two other poetry collections: The Rattling Window and Never a Note Forfeit. Her poems have appeared in the Kenyon Review, Poetry, The Common, The Yale Review, Academy of American Poets at poets.org, and others. She teaches in the honors and English programs at Villanova University. She can be found at www.catherinestaples.com