Join me weekly on Monday mornings for a virtual space intended for folks who want a creative outlet for some of the hard, brutal, beautiful, joyous parts of life. "Pain to Poetry" was born from my journey deconstructing my faith and finding meaningful connection in the words of poets like Mary Oliver, Nayyirah Waheed, Rilke, Rumi and more. The more I listened to my inner world, the more I found poetry as a way to express big feelings without needing to "fix" or "understand". In the poetry world, there is no "right" and "wrong", there just is what one observes in themselves and in the world. This can be a freeing (and challenging!) space for people like me who historically have felt more comfortable with finding answers to problems than in sitting in the questions themselves.

Pain to Poetry is about sitting in the questions of who you are and what you have experienced. It is not about fixing or understanding, but rather being honest with yourself. Pain can be a provocative word which can cause us to want to avoid it which is completely understandable! But as Rilke said, “Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” Although I don't really prescribe to the "damsel in distress" archetype, Pain to Poetry hopes to be a space where you get to show up for yourself and see what happens.

This doesn't mean you need to be a self proclaimed poet, you might just want a different way to consider and sort through the different parts of you. This is not intended to be therapy, but can certainly be therapeutic in that it is a space to connect to yourself in a meaningful way, alongside others. My professional training as a mental health therapist, and personal and professional trainings will permeate the class structure, tone and prompts.

Okay… I read all of this but what is it??

Each week will have a theme to guide the time but there will also be a bit of unguided space for you to write whatever you might be feeling or want to write about that day. You are welcome and invited to "drop in" and sign up as soon as minutes before!

Each week you may walk away with at least one line of your own poem, maybe just one word, or maybe even an entire poem. This class truly is your space to see what might come up! There will be no obligation or pressure to share what you wrote, but the opportunity to share for those who wish to.

This will happen via zoom and there will be a check in at the beginning and the end of class and having camera on is optional. Bring a pen and paper or something to write on and please be in a space that offers privacy for yourself and other participants.