In the wren song
of brief rain, what matters is that we instill

the darkness with jade

 –Arthur Sze, “The Angle of Reflection equals the Angle of Incidence”

To write poetry is to believe in renewal, invigoration and regeneration. Can poetry heal the world? If the answer is ‘yes,’ then hope lies in each poet’s insistence on cataloging the world, and sharing their visions.

In this generative poetry workshop, we’ll read & listen to poems by Arthur Sze, Natalie Diaz, Juliana Spahr and Danez Smith to help us consider the possibilities and necessity of ecopoetry. Then, in two writing periods, we’ll respond to prompts in the belief that “Sometimes in gazing afar,/ we locate ourselves.”

Optional: bring a photograph of a childhood landscape, plant or being.

This workshop, free and open to the general public, is brought to you by ESWA as part of Salisbury Poetry Week.