‘What are the seeds that are in your heart?
That’s the tree you will become’
I’m the Director at Red Room Poetry, where the dream of POEM FOREST first sprouted.
Created by Red Room Poetry, in collaboration with The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, POEM FOREST deepens our connection with nature by inviting students, teachers and communities to create and publish poems inspired by the natural environment. For every poem received, a native tree is planted at the Australian Botanic Garden to help heal critically endangered habitats and create a POEM FOREST for future generations.
I grew up in a plant nursery and was named after the Tamarind tree. Being in nature, listening to the leaves and songs of insects has always been a big part of my life and my writing. I’m fascinated by the way nature shapes our stories, our DNA, and how trees become our books, homes, cubby houses, bodies, medicine, pencils, our very breath … but sometimes we still take it for granted.
POEM FOREST came into being for many reasons — to deepen our connections with nature through poetry, to heal and honour habitats, to encourage young people to use their words to make tangible and positive climate action, to connect community in caring for Country and hopefully to help us see how nature is a part of us and we are part of it.
There’s so many things I’m grateful for in growing this project. It takes many years and hands to make a forest. POEM FOREST wouldn’t be possible without everyone who has shared their words and the web of people who support its growth like mycelium.
With special thanks to our Patron, John B. Fairfax, AO, and those who have shared their ideas, watered the roots, turned the soil and nurtured Country across the Red Room Poetry team, the Australian Botanic Garden and our creative communities.
POEM FOREST location where clearing of the invasive African Olive is essential to re-establish biodiversity.