During our 2023-24 Season: Elemental, Journey Arts invited audiences to write “Love Letters to the Planet,” at our events and online. Reflecting on our season theme “Elemental: A Love Letter to the Planet,” audiences shared wishes and dreams, their hopes and frustrations, beautiful memories, and stories that represented their connection to earth in letters submitted both online and in-person at shows.
These letters were synthesized into a singular poem called “Ode to Earth” by poet and Journey Arts friend, Yolanda Wisher. Once the poem was completed, it was turned over to renowned collage artist Yannick Lowery, who created the incredible collage you see below.
The Love Letters Project
Collage by Yannick Lowery, inspired by community submissions and a poem written by Yolanda Wisher.
ode to earth by Yolanda Wisher
inspired by letters written by the Journey Arts community
dear beautiful one
the only home i’ve ever known
i come to you soaked
with guttural vibrations
resting against ancestors
a peculiar mess
& between the two of us
it is you who has lived & outlived
you, mother, are the survivor
your inexhaustible rainbow of seasons
your blue note singing green hills
your voice sprouting birds
you are the mouth of every river
the name of every color
something infinite
& deserving
of love & care
blue blue dot in the sky
i know i am mistaken in thinking
there is an elsewhere
may i become fluent in your language of light
may i revel in your completeness
may life always be found in you
even in the deliverance we miscall death
may we be worthy of your song
a whole lot of ummm hmmmms
coming together