Wise teachers can be found in unexpected places, like gym parking lots. Join us for a poetry prompt about the people who help us find wisdom.
Poets and Poems: John Balaban and “Empires”
“Empires” by poet John Balaban mines both human and personal history poetically to ask what creates the idea of the common good.
Words, Music, Voice: Justin Hamm and “Federico Garcia Lorca Blues”
The album “Federico Garcia Lorca Blues” by Justin Hamm combines poetry, music, and voice to create an almost perfect poetic experience.
Poets and Poems: Jane Kenyon and “Best Poems”
“The Best Poems of Jane Kenyon” provides a wonderful introduction to the full range of her accomplishments as a poet.
Poetry Prompt: Dor
The word dor invites us to embrace loneliness rather than overcome it. This week Callie Feyen has a poetry prompt about accepting our aches.
Poets and Poems: Luci Shaw and “The Generosity”
“The Generosity” by Luci Shaw invites us to consider the eternal in nature, in the life around us, and in our own families.
Poetry Prompt: Seeing Stars
Have you ever received a gift you didn’t know you needed? Join Callie Feyen on a summer night of seeing stars and learning to let go.
Poetry Prompt: Stoop Sitting
Before summer ends, step outside for a little stoop sitting. Author Callie Feyen offers a poetry prompt about the place we call home.
Poets and Poems: Paul Mariani and “Ordinary Time”
“Ordinary Time” by poet Paul Mariani reminds us of the small and almost forgotten things that make a life, and make a life sacred.
Poetry Prompt: Include a Metaphor
Join Callie Feyen as she offers a poetry prompt about the power of metaphor. Especially when the ocean is involved.
Poets and Poems: Jessica De Guyat and “Fording the Stream”
The poetry collection “Fording the Stream” by British poet Jessica De Guyat is centered in the idea of place, be it Lindisfarne, Iona, or the French Midi.
Poetry Prompt: To the Horizon
What memories do you have of swimming as a child? Join Callie Feyen as thinks about her own summertime memories and of swimming to the horizon.
Poetry Prompt: Swimming in Sand
Join author Callie Feyen as she explores a poetry prompt about swimming in sand, drawn from memories of several trips to Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Poetry Prompt: For the Birds
What do you need to push away from in order to take flight? Join Callie Feyen as she considers resistance as a mighty force that’s not just for the birds.
Poets and Poems: Major Jackson and “Holding Company”
The 2010 collection “Holding Company” by Major Jackson leads the eye and mind to a different understanding and a different context.
Poetry Prompt: Poems of Emergence
The 17-year cicada will emerge this summer. What else is emerging in the world? Join author Callie Feyen as she considers how to write poems of emergence.
Poetry as a Way of Ordering Experience: “The Music of Time” by John Burnside
Poetry can be a way to bring meaning and order to one’s life, writes John Burnside in “The Music of Time: Poetry in the Twentieth Century.”
Poetry Prompt: Finding Poetry from Fear
Author Callie Feyen takes a dare to write nature poetry, finding inspiration from daredevil Robert Frost.
It Was a Marvelous Year: “The Making of Poetry” by Adam Nicholson
In “The Making of Poetry,” Adam Nicolson tells the story of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797-98, when they created some of the greatest poetry written in the English language.
By Heart: a blessing poem for the exhausted + new Margaret Wise Brown challenge
Return to your self, dear soul. Join us in learning John O’Donohue’s poem “For One Who Is Exhausted, A Blessing” By Heart.