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About the Event
Set along a thoughtfully curated walking route, participants move through the park while encountering live poetry performances at designated stops, transforming the landscape into a living gallery of voices, stories, and expression. This experience intentionally centers Raleigh-based poets, showcasing the city’s rich diversity of voices across age, background, and artistic style, and offering a platform for both emerging and established artists.
The program culminates in a powerful headlining performance by Dasan Ahanu, an award-winning poet, playwright, cultural organizer, performing artist, and scholar. A Southern storyteller, Dasan uses poetry to deepen awareness of our social and cultural landscapes.
Designed to celebrate poetry as both an art form and a communal practice, A Walk With Poetry encourages mindfulness through movement, accessibility through outdoor performance, and connection through shared storytelling.
Sign up below to take one of the guided poetry walks, or show up with a camping chair/blanket and settle in to listen to the headliner performances at the trailhead, or do both!
Date: Saturday, April 11
Time: 12 pm -5 pm
Location: Shelley Lake Park (Pecan Grove near the trail entrance) 1400 W Millbrook Rd, Raleigh, NC 27612
Guided Poetry Walk Schedule
- Group 1: 12:30 pm – 2 pm
- Group 2: 1 pm – 2:30 pm
- Group 3: 1:30 pm – 3 pm
- Group 4: 2 pm – 3:30 pm
Free tickets for the guided poetry walk are available on the Eventbrite page.
Main Stage Performances in the Pecan Grove
- 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
No tickets are needed to attend the main stage performances.
About the Artist
Kiana Renee, also known as CraziiKi, is a spoken word artist and writer from Baltimore, Maryland, now based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her work blends emotional truth, Afro-diasporic themes, and philosophical reflection, creating poetry that is both raw and deeply intentional. A self-taught poet, pursuing a degree in Sociology, Kiana draws from lived experience, community spaces, and a personal love for the works of Neville Goddard and other philosophical thinkers. Her artistic style weaves lyrical rhythm with introspective depth, inviting audiences into honest conversations about identity, healing, and the human spirit. Known for her compelling stage presence and grounded storytelling, Kiana has authored two books and continues to use her voice to uplift, challenge, and connect. For her, poetry is more than art—it’s a practice of liberation and soul-work.
Instagram: @Craziiki
Website: www.theekianarenee.net