The Solstice Poetry Reading, presented by Tecumseh Land Trust and Glen Helen, is Friday, Dec. 5, in the Glen’s Vernet Ecology Center. (News archive photo by Audrey Hackett)
Annual Solstice Poetry Reading to benefit Tecumseh Land Trust, Glen Helen
- Published: December 5, 2025
Now winter nights enlarge
The number of their hours;
And clouds their storms discharge
Upon the airy towers.
Let now the chimneys blaze
And cups o’erflow with wine,
Let well-turned words amaze
With harmony divine.
—From “Now Winter Nights Enlarge,” by Thomas Campion
Area residents are invited to stop by the woods on a snowy evening this Friday for the 14th annual Winter Solstice Poetry Reading.
The event, co-sponsored by Tecumseh Land Trust, Glen Helen and Tesseract Books, will take place Dec. 5, 7–9 p.m., in the Glen’s Vernet Ecological Center at 405 Corry St. Twelve local poets will read original works, followed by a wine and cheese reception and an open mic session.
Suggested donation for attendees is $10, to benefit the Glen and the conservation work of TLT.
This year’s featured poets are Bill Abbott, Steve Abbot, Jim Brooks, Rita Coleman, Amanda Nicole Corbin, Grace Curtis, Cathryn Essinger, Arvilla Fee, David Lee Garrison, Judy James, Sierra Leone and Carol Pohly.
The theme of Friday’s poetry reading is “ember” — a motif meant to keep attendees warm in these frosty winter weeks, and to kindle lasting creativity, said event organizer Matt Birdsall.
“My fire has been running low this year,” Birdsall told the News earlier this week. “This is always a magical event that I deeply, deeply look forward to — a creative spark that I need, and on a basic level, we all need.”
This will be Birdsall’s fourth year organizing and emceeing the Winter Solstice Poetry Reading since he took the reins from villager and writer Ed Davis in 2022. Birdsall is himself a poet, editor of the “Mock Turtle Zine” and a sitting board member for TLT.
Birdsall said he’s proud of the diverse array of readers he assembled for this year’s event. It’s an Ohio-grown literary lineup that includes slam poets, educators, award-winners and authors.
“They’re bringing diversity on every level,” Birdsall said. “They’re different in every way in how they write, how they read. They’re poets from their 20s to their 80s. And this diversity strengthens the very fabric of the event. Poetry can only be successful with the largest collection of voices, and that’s what we have.”
Beyond celebrating the power and wonder of words, Birdsall said the annual reading is a chance for attendees to reflect on the importance of land stewardship.
“I think there is this intrinsic connection between land preservation and poetry,” he said. “There isn’t one without the other, and this event gives a platform for both — a chance to think about other kinds of connections we can make in the future.”
Of particular note for this year’s event, Birdsall said, will be the commemoration of TLT’s recent success in securing a conservation easement on a 185-acre farm just west of the village limits. As the News reported last month, the local nonprofit struck an agreement with a family of farmers to keep that land along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road agricultural in perpetuity.
“That’s a huge reason I’m so jazzed about this year’s reading,” Birdsall said. “A lot of things have really come together for TLT. Preserving this property is extraordinarily exciting — the culmination of so many people’s efforts, especially [TLT Executive Director] Michele Burns. So many kudos to her.”
While the Solstice Poetry Reading will take place 16 days ahead of this year’s winter solstice — specifically, on Sunday, Dec. 21, at 10:03 a.m., when our hemisphere is at its farthest tilt away from the sun — the timing of the event is anything but accidental, Birdsall said.
“It’s early enough in the month to not conflict with the other things that tend to happen in December,” he said with a laugh. “We don’t want to step on Kwanzaa, Hanukkah or Christmas’ toes.”
He continued: “And with this being ahead of those events, this poetry reading can start the fire — the embers — of gratitude, of community, of togetherness that can burn through the rest of the month, and hopefully into the new year.”
The 14th annual Winter Solstice Poetry Reading is this Friday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. in Glen Helen’s Vernet Ecological Center. For more information, go to http://www.tecumsehlandtrust.org/solsticepoetry.
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