Join us on Tuesday, September 28 at 6pm PDT, via Zoom – no prerequisites, no homework!
“Here in the United States, we speak with reverence of authentic experience. We write poems about our daddies taking us fishing and breaking our hearts by making us throw the little fish back into the river. We even tell the reader the kind of car we were driving, the year and the model, to give the impression that it’s all true. It’s because we think of ourselves as journalists of a kind. Like them, we’ll go anywhere for a story. Don’t believe a word of it. As any poet can tell you, one often sees better with eyes closed than with eyes wide open.”
Charles Simic
Poetry requires us to stretch and flex our imagination. We’ll kick off this new season of Mindful Poetry by featuring Charles Simic’s poem, “Stone” – watch the video of his reading below.
We’ll continue with Joy Harjo’s poem, “Perhaps the World Ends Here,” and follow with Billy Collins’, “The Chairs That No One Sits In.” We’ll end with Wallace Stevens’ colorful “Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock,” a wonderful poem about possibilities and imagination.
Time permitting, we may enjoy a bit of contemplative writing time using famous still lifes (Cezanne, Picasso, Dali) as prompts.
Mindful Poetry meets the fourth Tuesday of each month
at 6pm PDT, via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 975 0515 6720 One tap mobile +12532158782,,97505156720# US (Tacoma)
Our Curator and Guide:
Poetry has been a life-long passion and solace for Rebecca Echert-Lennstrom. The beauty and playfulness of verse captured her heart early and became a well-spring of reflection and inspiration. For the last 25 years, she’s been sharing that love with high school students as an English teacher and creative writing instructor, steeped in words and imagery. She’s coached students in the National Poetry Out Loud Competition for ten years, paired with professional poets in the classroom to inspire student writing, and published high school creative writing magazines. This is her second year curating the Mindful Poetry Series as a ministry of the Episcopal Church.