Poetree: A Poetic Inquiry into Interdisciplinary Learning based on the Gaelic Tree Alphabet

The Gaelic tree alphabet is an ancient connection between trees and writing. In the Highlands of Scotland, it has recently been used as a structure for engaging people in interdisciplinary encounters at the boundary between forestry and literature, through a project called A-B-Tree. Poetic inquiry methods enabled exploration of how making a creative response to a tree can influence learning and attitudes. The A-B-Tree project has amassed evidence that tree-related wordplay is good for our well-being and stimulates and deepens thinking about trees. The poetic inquiry method has itself been a source of insights into the epistemological edge-zone between ways of knowing in poetry, folklore and forest ecology in particular and more generally between artistic practice and scientific knowledge.