Welcome to the Taos Almanac Project!
Within the flow of original voices belonging to our community, SOMOS and the Taos Poet Laureate happily launch the two-year Taos Almanac Project. As an almanac reflects the natural world and the way people engage with seasons, traditions, and the changing patterns of home, we add a poetic version to our observations, tales, and memories as the New Year gathers momentum. While the Old Farmers Almanac recently announced the continuation of a 233-year publication history, our focus relies upon the many voices of Taos: sharing perspectives, recipes, memories, and jokes in poetic form of 25 lines!
Watch for an upcoming SOMOS newsletter, check somostaos.org for guidelines, and join our community in creating a lasting Taos Almanac for all, from youth to elder, representing every background. The initial planning meeting will be held at SOMOS on Monday, January 26th, 4-6 pm, to be followed by quarterly gatherings to celebrate every season of gathered submissions: March 30th, June 29th, September 28th, and December 21st. We will be compiling a year-long almanac online, to be finalized after the 2026 winter solstice.
The natural world organizes our calendar as we begin the Taos Almanac Project mid-winter,
celebrating themes of Light within Darkness! Festivals and films, predictions, the brilliant night sky, changing weather and many related subjects characterize our first sharing in poetic form, inspired by the brilliance of our encircling mountains, vast plateau lands and mesas, deep canyons, dancing rivers, wild forests and dramatic weather. In honor of the first SUPERMOON of 2026, here is an example by your Taos Poet Laureate:
the supermoon pulls
midwinter’s curtain aside,
gleams upon frosted nightscapes:
every facet sharpens,
clings to meadowland
still craving snow,
until crystal-fingered hairgrass
wakes in morning thaw.
by Sylvia Rains Dennis, 01/06/2026, El Prado del Río Lucero, Taos homelands
permission granted to SOMOS for publication in the Taos Almanac Project
Contributions are welcome anytime! Please send original poetic almanac entries, with your name, date, identifying the place you know as home, and permission to include your voice to: TaosAlmanacProject@gmail.com or give a written or printed one to your teacher, community leader or SOMOS team member. (We are interested in your voice in our community of poetic expression; no AI submissions, please!) Follow our progress on the SOMOS website, https://somostaos.org/ and visit one of our quarterly gatherings to celebrate community so Sylvia can thank you in person for contributing to the Taos Almanac Project—everyone is invited!
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February 2026 message from Sylvia Rains Dennis, Taos Poet Laureate
Poetry, also known as Poesis: a term adapted from the ancient Greek language, where poiein is the action verb that refers to “making,” whose agents of creativity are called poētēs and whose wordsongs are referred to as poёms. How rare this is: a term that hasn’t changed much in thousands of years, one that looks almost the same in English, Español, and many languages! (by the way, etymology—the study of the origin of words—can be fun, a source of surprising insight, and can inspire more ideas…). Before things were written down, or inscribed on stone, they were sung.
So, how is language, especially wordsongs, like music? How does it interact with meaning, with listening, with memory, with ideas? It isn’t so surprising to find that words in any language may come from more than one place. So if you use more than one vocabulary, more than one way to describe something, or even include words from another language; then your voice shows an enduring quality, even a many-stranded, interweaving way of telling.
Poetry can give voice to your walk in this world. It can help you remember what’s important. Nature can inspire your poems; it is something we are all part of and is all over the endless map of poetry traditions worldwide. A forest, fish, or flower can serve as a touchstone to expressing sound, to capturing what you see, taste, feel, hear, and even the scent of home in midwinter: A warm fire and a shared meal! Chile verde con pollo simmering in abuelita’s cocina! Just listen to the horse whinny when you pass his frozen pasture at sunrise. Feel the warmth of the sun against the adobe wall. Did you overhear the two ravens making wild sounds as they performed acrobatics above the garden?
The language you choose, or have the habit of sharing, opens the window. Impressions saved from a dream can fall upon a blank page, guiding your hand. The story behind the poem can be so large—and like music it can grow stronger and more complex—that even simple words carry a tale that each person may understand in a unique way. Your thoughts, like seeds, can survive many harsh frosts, wake in spring, grow flowers, meet buzzing bees & fluttering butterflies, and mature until more seeds appear. Space and time can arrange patterns upon paper, until your poetic vision dances across the page.
Like an unplanned game two children create when they meet unexpectedly in a playground, poetry is strongest when you trust your instincts, speak from your heart.
Don’t worry about expectation, AI tools or any “toolkit,” try this without anything between you and what you want to say: speak a phrase out loud, listen to how it sounds, write some words down—PLAY! Enjoy! Share your poem with your family and friends, your community—if you feel like sharing. As for me, Sylvia, I’m happy that your voice sings among us all. (Of course, you can also share with me, or put your writing in the Taos Almanac Project when you’re ready! Send an email to: TaosAlmanacProject@gmail.com). And please come back to the SOMOStaos.org website, click on this page for updates and news! Taos Almanac Project – SOMOS
Most of all: it’s amazing how many singers there are! All kinds of voices, so many languages. Even just now I heard the shiny black cricket chirping along; then the piñón jay calling as she returned to the woodlands, looking for the cache of piñón nuts she buried last October.
Do you already love poetry? Here are two fun links to try:
Poem-a-Day | Academy of American Poets
and