California Botanic Garden welcomes you to celebrate words amongst the wildflowers with A Garden of Verses Poetry Festival.

Kicking off both national Poetry Month and CalBG's Wildflower Month, guests are invited to walk the paths amongst spring blooms and happen upon multiple poetry stations scattered throughout the Mesa gardens. All ages are welcome at this celebration of the power of poetry to increase our bond with nature. Join us for hands-on poetry activity stations where you will be guided in creating your own nature poetry, and listen to local poets recite verses reflecting on the themes of NATURE, GARDENS, the ENVIRONMENT, and the HEAVENS.

‍This event is free with Garden Admission.

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Garden of Verses features poetry stations hosted by (List subject to change):

All About Town Poets

The Pasadena Poets 

‍Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Helen Renwick Library

Southern California Haiku Study Group

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We welcome the following Poets Participating in A Garden of Verses
(List subject to change)

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Reading in the Waterwise Garden:
All About Town Poets

Organized by: Marcyn Del Clements

BELANDRIA, CHERBY

A talented musician, former Catholic priest, Cherby is studying to be ordained in the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles.  He will play his guitar between poets.

CARLSON, RALPH
R. S. Carlson (Ralph), retired from Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA in 2014.  His poems have appeared in The Texas Review; Poet Lore; The Cape Rock; Genre; The Hawai'i Review; Sunstone; War, Literature and the Arts; Colere; Slake; Whale Road Review, et. al.   Carlson’s poetry book, Waiting to Say Amen, is available in print or electronic formats

CHUC, TERESA MEI
Teresa Mei Chuc was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam shortly after the Việt Nam War and grew up in Pasadena and Altadena, California. Altadena Poet Laureate, Editor-in-Chief from 2018 to 2020 and a Pasadena Rose Poet since 2016, Teresa is the author of three books of poetry, Invisible Light (Many Voices Press, 2018), Keeper of the Winds (FootHills Publishing, 2014) and Red Thread (Fithian Press, 2012). She is co-editor of the anthology, Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2026). Teresa is a public high school English teacher in Los Angeles. 

CLEMENTS, MARCYN DEL
Claremont resident, a feisty octogenarian, has over 1,000 works in print. Her first book, Shinrin-Yoku, is available on Amazon, and her 2 nd book, Komorebi, will soon be out. When not traveling for birds, bugs, flowers, fish or other critters, she lives alone at home with some 50 oversized koi and goldfish, their mouths always open.

DAVIDSON, CHRIS
Chris Davidson's poetry and writing have appeared in publications such as Zocalo Public Square, Green Mountains Review, Social Alternatives, The Curator, and The Rumpus, as well as in the anthologies Monster Verse: Poems Human and Inhuman, Why to These Rocks: 50 Years of Poems from the Community of Writers, and Orange County: A Literary Field Guide. His most recent chapbook, Easy Meal, was published by Californios Press in 2020. He lives in Long Beach, CA.

FAY, IGNATIUS
Ignatius (1950-2022) was a disabled invertebrate paleontologist who wrote poetry in various Japanese short form styles. His work has appeared in many of the most respected print and online journals. Ignatius edited the Haiku Society of America, a monthly email newsletter, and has done the layout for Frogpond and the annual members’ anthology. He was Regional Coordinator for the Ontario Region of Haiku Canada.

HENLEY-ERICKSON, CATHERINE
Catherine Henley-Erickson holds a B.A. in English from Mills College and an M.F.A. in poetry from UC Irvine. For many years she was the Claremont Courier’s resident movie critic and concurrently taught writing at the University of La Verne, where she is now a Professor of English Emerita. She is the first poet laureate for the city of La Verne.

WILLIAMSON, JOHN R.  

https://www.instagram.com/john_r_williamson/ Williamson teaches English at The Gooden School, a private k-8 Episcopal School in Sierra Madre, CA. He published a poetry and art journal called Grapevine and won the Cornerstone Poetry Slam in Chicago. He continues to write and perform with his band, the c’est la vies.  

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Reading in the Sage Gallery:
Pasadena Poets

Organized by: Mary Fitzpatrick

AUERBACH, SUSAN
Susan Auerbach, formerly a professor of education, has published a chapbook, In the Mourning Grove with Finishing Line Press (2024), as well as her memoir I’ll Write Your Name on Every Beach (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017). Susan is from Altadena.

FITZPATRICK, MARY
Mary Fitzpatrick’s poems have been finalists for the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize and the Slapering Hol Chapbook Award, and have been published in a wide range of literary magazines and websites, as well as eleven anthologies. Mary –- who co-founded Poetry in the Garden in 2011 -- is a fourth-generation Angeleno who lives in Pasadena and feels at home in Ireland.

GOODHEART, JESSICA
Jessica Goodheart is a Pasadena-based journalist and poet. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She is an editor at Capital & Main, a nonprofit newsroom in Los Angeles. Her poetry collection, Earthquake Season, was published by Word Press.

LAFONTAINE, BEVERLY
Beverly Lafontaine is a Los Angeles-born poet and playwright. She has enjoyed four productions of her plays in the Los Angeles area and has had her poetry published in various poetry journals and anthologies. Six of her poems were incorporated into Walk a Mile in My Shoes, a sculptural art project erected by the City of Los Angeles in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, and Scenes from Sarajevo in which she collaborated with composer Tom Flaherty to produce a prize-winning chamber music piece for voice, cello, and viola.

L’ESPERANCE, MARI
Mari L’Esperance has published two poetry collections, The Darkened Temple (U. of Nebraska Press) and Begin Here (Sarasota Poetry Theatre Press). She and poet Tomás Q. Morín co-edited the anthology Coming Close: Forty Essays on Philip Levine (Prairie Lights Books / U. of Iowa Press). More recently her poems were included in Twenty Years of PoemoftheWeek.com (Madville Publishing, 2026) and Ploughshares (Spring 2025).

LIPKIN, ELLINE
Elline Lipkin’s latest book, Girl in a Forest, explores the Hansel & Gretel myth in bold new ways. Her first book, The Errant Thread, was chosen by Eavan Boland for the Kore Press First Book Award, and her second, Girls’ Studies, explores contemporary girlhood.  A Research Scholar with UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women, she teaches Independent poetry workshops and served as Poet Laureate of Altadena from 2016-2018.

PEARSON, CANDACE
Candace Pearson’s poetry centers on themes of memory, accountability, and the naturalworld. Her book, Hour of Unfolding, won the 2010 Liam Rector First Book Prize from Briery Creek Press. Pearson's poems have been published in journals nationwide and in several anthologies. She often works by flashlight in a 100-year-old cabin in the foothills north of Los Angeles.

RUSCIO, BETH
Beth Ruscio is the author of Speaking Parts (2020), winner of the Brick Road Poetry Prize and her work’s been widely anthologized. She’s been Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominated, and won finalist honors for The Wilder Prize, The Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, The Tupelo Quarterly Prize, and the Two Sylvias Prize. A professional actor for 50 years, Ruscio has graced local and national stages, and her work can be seen on screens large and small.

SANDSTROM, CATHIE
A military brat, Cathie Sandstrom – who co-founded Poetry in the Garden in 2011 -- has lived in five countries and ten states. Twice a Pushcart nominee, her work is on the website of the Academy of American Poets at poets.org, and has appeared in major literary journals, as well as several anthologies. She co-authored Eclipse Illumined with the artist/poet Thom Cooney Crawford. Cathie lives in Sierra Madre where she serves on the Advisory Board of the National Veterans Foundation.

WEISS, HILDA
Hilda Weiss is the co-founder and curator for www.Poetry.LA, a website that is the MTV of Los Angeles poetry. Hilda’s poetry is published in several anthologies and poetry journals, and has been nominated for a Pushcart prize. Her chapbook, Optimism About Trees, was published in 2011. Hilda is a fourth-generation Californian.

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Reading in the Cultivar Garden:‍

Southern California Haiku Study Group

Organized by: D’Ellen

ANGELINE, MARILIA
An LA poet and transformational coach she is a University of Michigan alum and also an actor. Her poems explore spirituality, voice, femininity, neurodivergence, mental-health and her Greek-Cypriot ancestry and mythology. She stays grounded by falling down in yoga.

CHOU, JACKIE
A writer of Japanese short form poetry who meets regularly with the Poet’s On Site Group to do collaborative work. She gets inspiration from the location she is in and does her best work in the moment

D’ELLEN
Overworked and underpaid clinical social worker by day and poet in her precious moments of darkness she uses art and poetry to help heal clients from a trauma informed perspective. Secretly, she is the reluctant mermaid.

DUMARS, DENISE
A widely published poet and short fiction author. Her haiku work is mostly Scifaiku and Horrorku.

GALASSO, WILLIAM SCOTT
Author of eighteen books of poetry and published in numerous journals. He has appeared on radio and TV programs in New York, Washington, and New Mexico--as well as California.

HARMON, CHARLES
Charles started writing stories in kindergarten and was first published in the fourth grade. He got serious about poetry in high school when he began writing songs for his girlfriend. Charles loves to travel and indulge his wonderful wife and kids.

KOLODJI, YVETTE NICOLE
An artist and a poet she is also the moderator for the SCHSG. Her work can be found in many journals and plays with the intersection of human emotions and nature.

O’REILLY-HAHN, CASSADY

‍A poet, editor and employee of Deluxe—a company that localizes TV and film for a global audience. He writes haiku and resides in Redlands with his wife and their two pugs, Wyatt and Jasper.

SANTOS, BONA M.
She has thrown her passion for writing into exploring haiku and related short forms. Her background in marine science research has made her a disciplined and observant student of all things haiku.

TIAN, JIE
A librarian, poet and bookmaker. She practices the Earth Arts through tending a small garden on the ancestral land of the Tongva-Gabrielino People. Her most recent works explore indigeneity, ecology and the poet’s calling.

VAN CAMP, WENDY
Wendy Van Camp writes fiction and fantasy as well as poetry. She was named Anaheim Poet Laureate from 2022-2024. She works at her woman-owned business and lives between a writing desk and a painting easel. 

WAKIMOTO, PATRICIA
Patricia Wakimoto has been dabbling in Japanese short poetry forms for over 10 years and will be babbling (hopefully not) some of her work. 

WILSON, KATHABELA
Editor of the SCHSG 2025 anthology, Reluctant Mermaids and President and Secretary of the Tanka Society of America, she has led the collaborative poetry group Poets on Site since 2010. Her creative Muse likes to wake her between the hours of 3 and 4 AM.

WILSON, RICK
Mathematics professor emeritus at Caltech and world flute collector and player he has published poems in Southern California, British Haiku and Poets On Site anthologies.

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Reading at the Majestic Oak Overlook:‍

Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Helen Renwick Library

Organized by: Karen Greenbaum-Maya

DE VAUGHNN, ERIC
Eric DeVaughnn is a father, author, educator, and poet. He is a recurring judge for Poetry Out Loud, co-founded innateDIVINITYbooks, and has self-published three poetry collections. His work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including a piece on permanent display at the Atlantic City Art Walk. Eric teaches elementary physical education in San Bernardino. All his poems are cracked teeth, dusky yellow and receding gum line lying limp on waxy, bright white paper, speckled red.

GREENBAUM-MAYA, KAREN
Karen Greenbaum-Maya, retired clinical psychologist, former German Lit major and writer of restaurant reviews, and a three-time Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, no longer lives for Art, but still thinks about it a lot. Bamboo Dart Press publishes her fifth and sixth collections, The Beautiful Leaves (2023) and Eve the Inventor (2025),

HAMMONS, GEORGE
George Hammons is a Southern California–based poet and the author of the chapbooks Hungry to Bed/Love Poems (Arroyo Seco Press) and Witness (Picture Show Press). His work has appeared in American Mustard, The Pacific Review, Cholla Needles, and the anthology These Black Bodies Are. His writing will also be featured in the upcoming anthology 88 Unashamed Black Mental Health Stories, due for release in May 2026

KAPLAN, GENEVIEVE

Genevieve Kaplan is the author of In the ice house, winner of the A Room of Her Own Foundation's poetry publication prize, and three chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including recent work in Third Coast, Thrush, and Poetry Northwest. Find her online at https://genevievekaplan.com/ .

LOGAN, STEPHANIE
Stephanie Logan is a budding Claremont poet who after teaching history and humanities, found her dream job as an LA County Library Associate where she loves introducing customers to intellectually stimulating materials. She was challenged at a poetry reading to begin writing her own poetry and has now been published in several haiku journals, Arts & Poetry Magazine, Altadena Poetry Review and the Claremont Courier. Stephanie sees everyday life as her muse, with her poetry inspired by the mystical side of life, frequently featuring historical women and Goddesses. She recently was encouraged to begin a poetry collection about the women in her twisted family story. 

MARTINEZ, CHLOE
Chloe Martinez is the translator of Blue Like My Beloved: Poems of Mirabai (forthcoming from New Directions this October), and coeditor of Chaos, Creativity, Completion: New Approaches to Writing and ADHD (just out from the University of Chicago Press). Her books of poetry are Ten Thousand Selves and the chapbook Corner Shrine. She is assistant editor at Beloit Poetry Journal and works at Claremont McKenna College. 

MOFFET, PENELOPE
Penelope Moffet is a poet and nonfiction writer based in Los Angeles. She is the author of the chapbooks Cauldron of Hisses (Arroyo Seco Press, 2022), It Isn’t That They Mean to Kill You (Arroyo Seco Press, 2018) and Keeping Still (Dorland Mountain Arts, 1995). Her poems appear in many journals, including Calyx, Eclectica, ONE ART and Vox Populi. A full-length collection of her poetry will be published by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions this Fall.

PERO, ALICE
Alice Pero’s book of poetry, Thawed Stars was praised by Kenneth Koch as having “clarity and surprises.”  An accomplished flutist and former dancer, she is also the founder of the reading series, “Moonday” which ran for over 20 years, and currently the Artistic Director of Village Poets in Tujunga, CA as well as the founder of Windsong Players Chamber Ensemble. Pero has created dialogue poems with over 20 poets and teaches poetry to children in public and private schools. She is widely published in literary magazines. Pero loves collaborating with other poets and artists, something she has been doing for over 40 years.

STITH, PAMELA
Pamela Stith is a retired English and Drama teacher who has been inspired by the Botanic Gardens for 35 years, romping through its oaks and pines with her spouse and two sons.

XOCHIQUETZALCÓATL, DIOSA
Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl is a spoken-word artist and multilingual and multidimensional poetiza with a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Cross-Cultural Teaching. She is the author of seven full-length poetry collections, one chapbook, and two forthcoming books. Learn more about her work at www.diosax.net

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