i love poetry {january 21, 2013}

Today, my heart, my spirit, my soul soared as I listened to Richard Blanco read his poem "One Today" at President Obama's Second Inauguration. Listen to it above.

I love poetry.

Yes.

i'm thinking about you..

The above quote is from my video post below. The video is a little letter from me to you today. 

video URL: http://vimeo.com/53613292

In the video, I read the poem "For strong women" by Marge Piercy (from The Moon Is Always Female, you can read the poem here).

Thank you for being out there sharing your light, your stories, your you.ness.

Blessings,
Liz

PS The poem has a couple of words that might not be okay for little ears. 

a pocket poem + a thank you

a pocket-sized poem . an excerpt from "Our Grandmothers" by Maya Angelou

It's Poem In Your Pocket Day. 

Oh how this day makes me so darn happy! Throughout the day I saw a few poems pop up in Instagram and on Flickr and on Facebook. Love this! If you carried a poem around in your pocket, will you let me know which one you were called to today? And if you didn't carry one, think about carrying one tomorrow...or the day after that...or every day. It is some kind of magic to carry a poem.

***

I also want to say thank you for being out there in the world sharing pieces of yourself. I am so grateful for the ways this crazy internet world connects us. Thank you for taking the time to connect...to say "I see you"...to show up. The ripples of this are so much bigger than you will ever know. Yes.

poetry and smash books

I am having so much fun over here in the land of poem it out and smash books and cheese and my mother's cooking that I wanted to check in with you in a video today.

Notes from the video:

I talk about how I am using yet another Smash journal (this time the "mod black" smash folio) to catch all of my ideas and inspiration about poeming. (And I share a peek at the new HUGE Smash book you can find here.) Best prices on the new large ones might be at Michael's with your big coupon of the week (oh and I want to share that I get the weekly coupons by email and just learned that you can just open the link to the coupon on your phone and they can literally scan your phone!).

I read a poem by William Stafford (and a short excerpt from an interview with him) from the book The Answers Are Inside the Mountains: Meditations on the Writing Life by William Stafford. 

*****

And after several emails asking me to share book and journaling recommendations, especially poets/books to begin with when one wants to really become friends with poetry, I decided to do two things:

1) Begin a new series of posts about some of my favorite poetry collections and poets and books about writing and poetry. Look for the first in this series next week.

2) Create an Amazon store to have a place where you can easily go and check out the poets (and a few other god things) that I recommend. There is a section called "Poetry: Start Here" that lists the books I think might help you fall in love with poetry. There is another ever-growing section of the books of poetry I turn to again and again. (And as a writer, I feel really moved to say: Consider buying your books from your local independent bookstore or checking them out of the library.) And just to be totally clear: If you do buy through my Amazon store, note that it is part of the Amazon affiliate program, which means I get a small commission of your purchase. Next week, I will share a bit about the dream I had in my 20s of opening up a bookstore called "Curled Up (With a Good Book)" and how adding things to this simple Amazon store feels a teeny bit like choosing books to fill that fictional bookstore.

May your day be full of lightness and moments to just rest. Thank you for visiting my corner over here...

Liz

PS speaking of poetry, have you seen what Maya Stein is up to? oh my goodness how that woman inspires me.

PPS if you are new to my corner of the blog world and want to find out more about my wholeness practice and how the Smash journals are helping me with it, check out this series of posts on journaling.

poem it out (a new ecourse)

The idea for this ecourse grabbed hold of me last week and wouldn't let go. I am so delighted to be sharing it with you today! 

*****

Poetry is a lifeline for me.

I think it could be one for you, too.

And I want to spend four weeks with you showing you why.

In this online course, we will explore the world of poetry from a place of wonder. We will look for poems that invite us to nod our heads and say, “Me too…me too.” We will face the blank page and say, “Bring it” and write the words that are ready to burst out of us. We will stop everything to Poem It Out.

DETAILS

Dates: April 2 – April 27

Where: The course will be hosted on a private blog and private Flickr group. Although the material will be presented over four weeks, participants are encouraged to work at their pace, and the course will stay up on the blog until May 31 to help facilitate this. The Flickr group will be available indefinitely for continued connection after the course ends. 

Lessons: Juicy poetry goodness will be posted four times a week and will include topics like:

• Writing and poetry prompts
• Creating a word toolbox to be a companion when you face the blank page
• Poetry creative adventure assignments
• Stories about my own poetry adventures
• Inspiration posts that will introduce you to poets, poems, and other good things
• Interviews with poets and poetry lovers

Supply list:

• Journal/notebook and favorite pen/pencil
• A camera (any camera is fine, including a camera phone)
• A Flickr membership (only needed if you want to share your photos)

Updated: Registration for this session of Poem It Out is now closed. To learn more about current and upcoming sessions, head over here.

Please note that an FAQ with answers to some of the questions you might have is included on the Poem It Out page. Feel free to send over any additional questions to me via email.