On Saturday, September 26, from 3 – 5pm, Cascadia 2050 will be hosting a workshop titled: I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How). Cost: free, suggested donation $25.

This will be the second workshop aiming to demystify the process of writing poetry, and, as the CPL and Cascadia 2050 missions say, “empower people to practice poetry…” In our first workshop, we learned a little from Brenda Hillman about what it means to be a poet. As she says, “to be a poet you only need 3 readers, and one of them can be a tree.” With the idea established that poetry is an expansive mode which includes metered and rhymed lyrics, but goes far beyond such formal forms, our next workshop will take us into the toolbelt of the poet. We will talk about what “form” really means for a poem, and how we can use things like enjambment and assonance to channel energy and create interesting pieces.

As previously stated, on a larger scale, a creative practice is a powerful personal antidote to the depressants of attention fracking, war-mongering, and climate crisis we are all exposed to right now. It can help build physical, emotional, and intellectual resilience. It can help build community. It can help build a culture that is based on humans, not corporations. And we Cascadia 2050ites want to share that with you! So if you, a friend, a family member, or an annoying coworker needs this kind of poetic energy in their life right now, please come, join us, and invite that person in your life!