Writing Prompts

This fall, I worked on a Personal Canon project with my Poetry Immersion students, in which we gathered the texts, inspirations, and influences that have shaped our progress, and informed our [...]

We’re just a few days away from the December 2018 session of the 21 Day Poetry Challenge, an end of year ritual that results in many poems, passages and poetic fragments being written. I [...]

I’ve learned so much in the last five years of hosting the 21 Day Day Poetry Challenge about how to coax and provoke and draw-out those who want to write more poems, and I’ve been [...]

I need different strategies at different times, but when I’m scattered or anxious (anyone else holding their breath in advance of mid-terms?) I’ve learned that I feel best when I dig [...]

Busyness, careerism, capitalism, and materialism: What do these things have to do with poetry? Short answer: Nothing. These things are at cross purposes with poetry. The other true answer is that [...]

There is a passage from the Gnostic Gospels that has been on my mind all summer: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is [...]

My online classes are on hiatus for the summer but there are a few places you can still catch me in person for a poetry workshop. I’d love to see you in a workshop before this season ends. [...]

What is your origin story?   I’ve been asking different versions of this question recently, because I think that when we understand where we come from—what formed us and made us who we [...]

Hello Friends! I wanted to invite you to What We Do, an online, two-week experience designed to help you generate new drafts before your gardens and summer schedules get the best of your [...]

I know teachers who teach the same poems, and use the same assignments, year after year. I’ve learned from these teachers, and occasionally envied their enduring commitment to a few, [...]