Poet • Educator
I know we are all feeling anxious and uncertain. Unknowns are hard to deal with. In spite of this many people are still making art; some of it related to the Coronavirus. This poem is my way of trying to hold disparate realities together.
Stay safe, stay home, find your own creative expressions and enjoy some down time.
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.
Suzanne Edison will read from her book and there will be a Q & A with some of the artists, researchers and participants in this project.
The Pacific Science Center
Thursday, March 7, 2019
7 pm
On a sunny Saturday morning in Burien, WA, about 20 residents of Merrill Gardens, along with a half dozen more friends, gathered to hear me read poems and discuss the project upon which my recent book, The Body Lives Its Undoing, is based.
They were attentive listeners and asked great questions about the poems and about autoimmune disease in general. One question was about the difference between infections and autoimmune disease. Another person was curious if there were any “bright spots” that emerged from people living with pain. I said I heard often about people letting go of things that no longer seemed important and learning to live in, and celebrate each moment.
We also showcased some of the artwork and Anna Hooser, artist, book designer and BRI Tech Assistant, was also on hand to talk about how her artwork was a reflection of the interviews I conducted and which she videotaped.
Optimism Brewing, 1158 Broadway, Capitol Hill (come early to get a seat)
4:30 – 6:30 pm
