Poet • Educator
I am grateful to Anna Kaufman for this interview opportunity.
My workshops at UCSF are open to any parent with a child living with an ongoing mental or physical health issue. Contact Bhupinder Nahal at UCSF for registration information. Bhupinder.Nahal@ucsf.edu
“The workshop was so well designed and facilitated. I LOVED and benefited greatly [from] the variety of activities – the mindfulness and body scans, the writing prompts and sharing, the poems, and the reflections. Suzanne, your warmth and experience and organization are so appreciated.”
“It was great to share what we had bottled inside- and see it transformed into an art form.”
“I liked the poetry and how relatable it is. Suzanne always does a great job.”
“…thank the host, she did an amazing job. It was such a healing class.”
I’ll be teaching 2 sections of this 6 week course at Hugo House starting September 14th and September 15th. All of it on Zoom.
Registration is open.
The Words to Say It: Reading & Writing Poems about Illness, Trauma & Healing (ZOOM) Section I
The Words to Say It: Reading & Writing Poems about Illness, Trauma & Healing (ZOOM) Section II
I’ll be teaching a 2 day workshop in Port Townsend. Come join me at The Writers Workshoppe.
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, April 4th and 5th
Time: 10:00am to 3:00pm
Cost: $170
Limited to: 10 participants
“Story [or poetry] is both a primal, concrete way of ordering experience and also a way of opening the self to disorder. When lyric ceases to hide behind abstraction…and descend down into the chaos and specifics of the physical world to seek its meanings, it is another way that it has of making itself vulnerable to disorder. …One of story’s primary purposes is to lay claim to experience. Autobiographical storytelling can take personal experience back from silence, shame, fear, or oblivion… By telling his or her story, the poet overcomes isolation and silence.” — Gregory Orr
“The only way through pain…is to absorb, probe, understand exactly what it is and what it means. To close the door on pain is to miss the chance for growth…”- May Sarton
In this two day intensive workshop we will read and write poems about our experiences with illness, trauma and healing. These experiences are held in our bodies and we will engage in an initial centering exercise to help us focus. We will read poems with an eye and ear to understanding how emotions and experiences are captured and held in images, metaphors and narratives. I will provide you with prompts and structures for writing. There will be time to share and receive feedback on the second day of the workshop. You will come away with a better appreciation for how poetry can hold the often unspeakable and ineffable, and a couple of your own new drafts of poems or stories. Some experience with poetry or writing is helpful but not required.