Poetic Communication is a book of conversations in poetry between local author Joe Shermis and the youth residing in the Humboldt County Regional Facility and Juvenile Hall. Through funding by the California Arts Council Jump StArts Program and the Humboldt County Probation Department, the Ink People Center for the Arts has been sending artists into the facility including musicians, visual artists, and “Poetry Joe.” The goal of these arts classes on the inside is engage students in creative expression in the hopes of empowering them to understand and improve their own situations.

Since July of 2016 Joe Shermis has spent three classes a week with the students of Von Humboldt and New Horizon schools prompting their “creative flow” through an exchange of poems. Joe will introduce a topic like “freedom” or “sobriety.” Students then write a free form poem on that theme, and Joe writes a response poem.