During the summer months and into September Tea Arts and Culture presented “Mindful Appreciations and Reflections” at Brookfield Place in conjunction with Miya Ando’s artwork Flower Atlas. We conducted tea ceremonies and samplings as well as haiku writing under the glass dome in the Winter Garden and at the Birch Grove outside. What you have here is a selection of the approximately 140 haikus written during these events. You will see many references to the beauty of the art, to the wonder of nature, and to the quiet that tea can create even in the busiest of spaces.

- Robin Lampman

Flower calendar   
Winter in summer
Smell of oolong tea   

- Mitsu                                         

Above the chaos
Flowers float like paper poems
Tea asks us to pause
-Imran

Taking a quick break
Sitting in the hydrangeas
Rose tea creates calm
- Abby

“This smells good” he said
raising his cup of oolong
”I don’t want to leave"!”
- Kristina

As I close my eyes
Warm tea soothes me inside out
My mind’s eye still see’s flowers
- Ratika
                                         

Under the falling petals
I rush away from the storm
Guilty of a pause
- Ozge                             

I did not stop
To appreciate simple things
Until I looked around                     

                                  - Tina

A footprint of spring
From the waves of cherry
Smell of flower tea
- Haru

Cacophony around
A sip of tea slows down the world
Noise disappears
- Shesharkh

Refresh, pause, and breath
Sip tea slowly drop by drop
Feel the season change
- Angel

Tea in hand I hear
silent waves of flowers say
”Seasons come and go”
- Guadalupe


Poetry & Tea

Celebrate the moment with Poetry and Tea. Explore that beauty with the linguistically, culturally, and economically diverse communities around us. Both poetry and tea give us quiet, thoughtful time to return to ourselves and to the mysteries of the universe. Both can help free us from the fear of disaster and help us live through turbulent times. Please enjoy those poems we wrote in the past year and hope to see you at one of our Poetry and Tea events!