Writing Towards Aliveness

In this workshop, we'll explore lyric memory and lyric truth, asking how poetry can help us make meaning of our lives, our histories and the places that shape us - beyond the boundaries of fact. Together, we'll consider the stories we inherit, the memories we carry, the official narratives we question, and the truths and tensions that poetry seems capable of holding, without needing to resolve them. Through close reading and generative writing exercises, participants will be invited to identify their own "pulse point": the question, image, place or obsession that continues to draw them back to the page. We'll explore how our deepest poems often begin not with certainty, but with curiosity - with what we cannot stop wondering about, grieving, noticing, or loving. Whether you're writing from personal experience, family history, community memory or the landscapes that have formed you, this workshop will offer practical tools for writing poetry that is grounded, searching and alive.