Welcome to PLIX Spatial Poetry! This activity combines the expressive flexibility of poetic language and local data research skills to encourage a re-imagination of maps and renewed understanding of place.
🪝 Drop-In 🥰 Ages 8+ 🕐 1–1.5 Hours 👩👧👦 up to 15 Participants 🍎 1–2 Facilitators 🎨 Craft Materials
Poems have historically influenced many of the place names we know today. Many contemporary poets rethink the ties between language, place and belonging. This activity highlights issues of place-naming in America, particularly its historical ties to colonization, and possibly connect participants with local renaming campaigns or future naming initiatives where they live. It draws on current topics in geography, poetry, and journalism, and media-making.
Get Inspiration from the PLIX Community
by Stephanie Skaryd, Jupiter, FL
As part of the centennial celebrations of Jupiter, FL, Stephanie S., adapted PLIX Spatial Poetry for her Palm Beach County Library branch, fostering creativity and local community connection for all ages.
by PLIX Intern Jessica Zheng (MIT Class of 2027), and PLIX Ambassador Jennifer Vinzons, Kapolei, HI
In this co-designed STEAM escape room, multiple PLIX activities are adapted for the local Kapolei, HI, community, with a focus on native birds
by Sami Kerzel
Create a street shape poem using topography (or elevation), rather than a birds' eye view.
by Savannah Hartje
This this found poem is titled "Life in Broad Brush Strokes".
by Ry Greene
Create an animated collage map investigating the Rio Salado (Salt River) and how it connects to environmental justice.
by Sam Lucius
Outlined place-names in an erasure poem.
by Jacqui Viale
Combine sculpture, collage, and poetry to create a "shadow box" found poem.
by Joe Misterovich, Christian County Library in Sparta, Mo
Multiple ways to explore real and imaginary maps with Spatial Poetry, without needing to be physically present to facilitate!
Prompts from PLIX
Click on the triangle ▶︎ to expand the prompt and see more details.
PLIX Community Remixes
remix by Jacqui Viale
Check out more examples and experiences from other librarians on the PLIX Forum Spatial Poetry space
Spatial Poetry Book Connections
Mapping Sam by Joyce Hesselberth Ages 4+
My Heart Is a Compass by Deborah Marcero Ages 4+
Recommended by Clara Hendricks (Cambridge Public Library)
After Words: Visual and Experimental Poetry in Little Magazines and Small Presses by by Steve Clay and M.C. Kinniburgh Ages 12+
Recommended by Tienya Smith (Queens Public Library)
Radical Cartography: How Changing our Maps Can Change Our World by William Rankin All ages
Recommended by Stephanie Skaryd (Palm Beach County Library System)
Materials
Supply Kit
Below you'll find some materials that we've found work well for this activity, but it's not necessary to have them all! The prompt you'll explore determines what materials you'll want to have on hand.
Supplementary Resources
PLIX zines are a supplementary resource for patrons and librarians to refer to. Use our guide to cut and assemble them.
Love our zine, but it doesn’t fit your adaptation of the activity? Remix our zine with this Google Slides template!
Facilitation
Playtest and Plan
Remember: There’s no one right way to prepare for a workshop. Use these steps as a loose guideline for planning to run this activity.
- Choose one of our prompts, or come up with a prompt that suits your library community. Our activity guides are for getting you started—feel free to change or create new design elements to suit your local community! All PLIX activity guides are designed for a minimum of 1–2 facilitators
- Gather materials and print out the zine.
- Make an example project. Try it out with friends and colleagues. Thoughtfully incomplete, good examples feature a variety of approaches and starting points. Use them to inspire learners to make something uniquely their own. Guide to Making Activity Examples →
- Try the activity with your patrons. Set a date and time. Easily promote your workshop with our editable Spatial Poetry flyer template →
- Populate your workshop space with diverse example projects. Create and play together!
- Reflect on what you’ve done and consider doing a remix!
Did you come up with new prompts? Share your ideas with your peers on the PLIX Forum. Try our Remix Share-Out template if you’d like us to feature your remix!
Facilitation Tips
Since there are many ways to explore symmetry, patrons may need some guidance in how or where to get started. When facilitating this activity, we encourage you to support a tinkering mindset, and consider the following to culture a creative learning environment.
into creative learning facilitation with our Self-Guided Mini Course. It’ll also help you get started running your first PLIX workshop.
About PLIX Spatial Poetry
This activity was developed as part of the PLIX Co-Design program, in which Media Lab researchers team up with public librarians to create new PLIX programming, in collaboration with poet and artist Hua Xi of the Data Feminism Lab's Audit the Streets Project.
Other ways to engage with the PLIX Beautiful Symmetry activity:
- Looking for some background music? Check out our PLIX Spatial Poetry Playlist 🎶
- Questions? Ask them on the PLIX Discussion Forum 🙋♀️
- Share your experience running this activity on Twitter or Instagram and tag us @heyplix