The Wick Poetry Center will begin the 2025 Fall Semester with a book launch, poetry readings and a new exhibit from its Poets for Science collaboration.
A book launch for “The Nature of Our Times” by Phillip Levin, Ph.D., director of United by Nature, will take place at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 18, at the Kent Student Center Ballroom Balcony.
Published by Paloma Press in collaboration with the Wick Poetry Center and Poets for Science, “The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America’s Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders” is a companion to the United By Nature Initiative, a first-of-its-kind, national assessment of U.S. lands, waters, and wildlife, David Hassler, the Bob and Walt Wick Executive Director of the center, explained to 91ֿ Today.
“This anthology of poems will serve as a companion to the first knowledge assessment of nature and nature’s benefits in the United States,” Hassler said. Levin’s talk will be followed by a poetry reading by Hassler’s co-editors, Luisa A. Igloria and Aileen Cassinetto, and Ohio poets featured in the anthology.
Levin is a professor at the University of Washington and interim executive director of UW’s EarthLab. He directs United by Nature, a national initiative exploring how nature supports communities. His work centers on conservation, sustainability and connecting science with policy to shape a more just and thriving future.
Aileen Cassinetto was the Poet Laureate of San Mateo County and a 2021 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. She is the winner of the 2025 Foley Poetry Prize and co-founder of Paloma Press in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Luisa A. Igloria is the author of “Caulbearer,” “Maps for Migrants and Ghosts,” “The Buddha Wonders if She is Having a Mid-Life Crisis,” 12 other books, and four chapbooks. She is the 20th Poet Laureate of Virginia (2020-22), Emerita.
The event is sponsored by the Environmental Science and Design Research Institute, the Poetry Coalition, the Don and Nancy Bubenzer Fund, and the Thomas and Mimi Freeman Family Fund.
At 3 p.m. on Sept. 19, Wick will open a new exhibition tied to the “The Nature of Our Times” book at the Main Branch of the Cleveland Public Library, second floor, Louis Stokes Wing, 525 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio.
The exhibit will include 24 large banners of poetry that will remain on display for library patrons to explore and enjoy in the upcoming months, Hassler said.
Following the opening in Cleveland, the day will conclude back in Kent at Last Exit Books & Coffeehouse, 124 E. Main St., where an 8 p.m. poetry reading is scheduled.
Founded in 2017, is a participatory project and installation exploring the connection between science and poetry, which is based out of the Wick Poetry Center.
Hassler said the work of the Poets for Science collaboration continues to expand. The Wick Poetry Center recently received a $50,000 grant from the Poetry Foundation to promote a year of national programming for the effort.
In September 2026, the Wick Poetry Center will host its first Poets for Science national conference, which will take place at 91ֿ, Hassler said. Following the conference, Wick will promote and co-host a series of Poets for Science events in cities around the country throughout the 2026-27 academic year.
