Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai loved people an the world by planting trees. Join author Megan Willome for a Children’s Book Club discussion.
Friendship Project: Let’s Walk: A Thousand Goodbyes — A Thousand Hellos
Callie Feyen discovers that writing is one thing, but it is something entirely different to tell a friend what’s on your mind, especially while you’re on a walk around a lake together.
Poets and Poems: Michael Glaser and “The Threshold of Light”
“The Threshold of Light,” a new chapbook by poet Michael Glaser, includes 21 poems filled with light as awareness, knowledge, energy, life, and grace.
June Photo & Poem Prompt: Possibility
Look for texture with your camera (or your poem!)—go exploring and find some unexpected possibility.
Reader, Come Home: “The Odyssey”
Join Megan Willome as she completes a deep read of the hero Odysseus in Emily Wilson’s translation of “The Odyssey.” And share your May pages.
Book Club: How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Sfumato
Can Mona Lisa’s unnerving smirk help you get comfortable with ambiguity and deepen your creativity? Find out in this week’s book club discussion of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.
Poets and Poems: Chris Dombrowski and “Ragged Anthem”
The 52 poems of “Ragged Anthem” by Chris Dombrowski describe the fragility and impermanence of life, in spite of an individual’s resilience.
Poetry Prompt: Walking Towards Beauty
Author Callie Feyen invites us to take a walk, ask hard questions, and find beauty in a broken world. Share it through poetry.
By Heart: “Annabel Lee” + New “The Star” Challenge
Join author Megan Willome as she learns Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” By Heart and wonders why Poe never made a workout video.
The Power of Curiosity: “Can I Touch Your Hair?” by Irene Latham & Charles Waters
Author Laura Brown discusses how curiosity deepens friendship, using the children’s book “Can I Touch Your Hair: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship.”
Poets and Poems: Shanna Powlus Wheeler and “Evensong for Shadows”
Shanna Powlus Wheeler’s first full poetry collection, “Evensong for Shadows,” suggests the omnipresence of grief — a measure of the loss of love or happiness or relationship, and very much a part of life.
Book Club: How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Curiosità
Often, the most important thing is not the answer, but the question. Michael Gelb (and Leonardo da Vinci) suggest we write a hundred questions to get our curiosity started.
Horace Traubel and the Final Words of Walt Whitman
Thanks to Horace Traubel, we know much about Walt Whitman’s last years, Brenda WIneapple says in “Walt Whitman Speaks.”
Build Your Friendships With the Power of Curiosity—5 Ideas!
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Questions & Curiosity: Why This Aphorism?
Take a saying that’s become cliché, and give it a new life when you question and then write a poem!
From Mountain to Mountain: The Power of Poetry for People Affected by Trauma
Poet James Elsaesser, of the DASI Prevention Team in New Jersey, discusses the power of poetry to move people affected by trauma from mountain to mountain.
Book Club: How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Person
To be a Renaissance Person, one must have a more expansive view of what creativity requires. Surprisingly, that creativity sometimes begins with events that rewire society (and our ways of thinking and being). Join us in our discussion of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.
The 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: “Be With” by Forrest Gander
“Be With” by Forrest Gander won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The quietly stunning collection stimulates reflection and introspection on every page.
Questions & Curiosity: Wonder Plant Prompt
Join us this week to wonder about a common plant you may have passed by. Find your questions, then your answers, and then—your poem!
Children’s Book Club: “Dear Mr. Henshaw”
If Leigh Botts can become a writer, so can you. Join author Megan Willome as we read Beverly Cleary’s ‘Dear Mr. Henshaw’ for the Children’s Book Club.