Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks
For high school students
Jen was selected as a 2025 Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets. Her project “Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks” was in partnership with Bravo High School and you can read more about it in this LA Times article, published on the front page of the digital and print editions.
As a teaching artist, she facilitated field trips for the high school students to visit eco-education groups like Theodore Payne Foundation, Kuruvungna Springs, and TreePeople.
General Audiences
Community members were invited to join us on one of the field trips, to enjoy the nature education hike with TreePeople and hear the students share their poetry from their field notes.
If you’re interested in buying a copy of the zine, they are available by direct order or at select indie bookshops like Chevalier’s in L.A. and other places. Please contact Jen (at the button below) to learn more.
This award-winning project is one of many projects of Jen’s educational offerings. If you have an idea for your school or organization, let’s talk! The first exploratory consult (phone or video conference) is complimentary to assess your interests.
Special Thanks
This project is made possible by the
generous support of the Academy of American Poets and the Mellon Foundation. For Jen’s poem published with poets.org, please click here.
Special thanks to the International Montessori Academy Foundation for their support towards the printing of the spring edition of the zine.
Other teaching projects
Testimonials from students and community
““These field trips, it exposed them outside of city life. There’s more than opening a book, listening to a teacher. You need that outside exposure to really understand life. And inner city kids don’t have that. I want [my daughter] to be part of breaking a cycle.”
— Parent of student featured in the front page printing of the LA Times Article.
“I still don’t believe it. I never realized I could be a published author as a junior in high school. So amazing that my poetry can be discovered in bookstores!”
— High school student from the project
“Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks”
I’m used to concrete floors
And concrete walls.
I’m used to five story buildings.
I needed a quiet place.
Where I could just lie in the grass.
— excerpt from Saneli Soto’s poem from the fall zine of “Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks”
JEN CHENG 