The Spark—poem generation workshop
Beauty out of Sickness: Poems transforming Illness
Thursday, September 19, 1-3 pm US ET (6-8 pm UK)
Whether we like it or not, sickness is an integral part of being human.
Illness comes into all of our lives, as something we experience ourselves, or what we watch a loved one go through. And while no one wants to get sick, in some ways the hardships of illness can actually affirm life, by helping to reveal who we are, reasserting our values and priorities, and highlighting our most precious relationships.
All these things make sickness a rich subject for poetry. There are many great poems about this topic, which not only allow readers to understand what it’s like to go through illness, but also help the poet to understand the experience more deeply and even find some healing. Many of these poems transform the unpleasant or painful time of illness into something that speaks profoundly about being human.
In this month’s Spark, we’re going to look at how you can write this kind of powerful poem about sickness. We’ll cover all kinds of sickness, from short-term to chronic, minor to life-threatening, happening to you or to someone close to you. We’ll deal with how to share the experience of illness with others, but we’ll also go deeply into how you can explore what it means to you, so that you can use your poems to find some solace or release, via the satisfaction of turning it into art.
So I hope you’ll join us, to make poems that transform sickness into meaning and even beauty.
Included are:
Example poems to learn from
Discussion of various approaches to writing powerful poems about illness.
3 specific writing prompts
Writing time
Brief feedback.
Places are limited to 12 people.
Beauty out of Sickness: Poems transforming Illness
Thursday, September 19, 1-3 pm US ET (6-8 pm UK)
Whether we like it or not, sickness is an integral part of being human.
Illness comes into all of our lives, as something we experience ourselves, or what we watch a loved one go through. And while no one wants to get sick, in some ways the hardships of illness can actually affirm life, by helping to reveal who we are, reasserting our values and priorities, and highlighting our most precious relationships.
All these things make sickness a rich subject for poetry. There are many great poems about this topic, which not only allow readers to understand what it’s like to go through illness, but also help the poet to understand the experience more deeply and even find some healing. Many of these poems transform the unpleasant or painful time of illness into something that speaks profoundly about being human.
In this month’s Spark, we’re going to look at how you can write this kind of powerful poem about sickness. We’ll cover all kinds of sickness, from short-term to chronic, minor to life-threatening, happening to you or to someone close to you. We’ll deal with how to share the experience of illness with others, but we’ll also go deeply into how you can explore what it means to you, so that you can use your poems to find some solace or release, via the satisfaction of turning it into art.
So I hope you’ll join us, to make poems that transform sickness into meaning and even beauty.
Included are:
Example poems to learn from
Discussion of various approaches to writing powerful poems about illness.
3 specific writing prompts
Writing time
Brief feedback.
Places are limited to 12 people.
Beauty out of Sickness: Poems transforming Illness
Thursday, September 19, 1-3 pm US ET (6-8 pm UK)
Whether we like it or not, sickness is an integral part of being human.
Illness comes into all of our lives, as something we experience ourselves, or what we watch a loved one go through. And while no one wants to get sick, in some ways the hardships of illness can actually affirm life, by helping to reveal who we are, reasserting our values and priorities, and highlighting our most precious relationships.
All these things make sickness a rich subject for poetry. There are many great poems about this topic, which not only allow readers to understand what it’s like to go through illness, but also help the poet to understand the experience more deeply and even find some healing. Many of these poems transform the unpleasant or painful time of illness into something that speaks profoundly about being human.
In this month’s Spark, we’re going to look at how you can write this kind of powerful poem about sickness. We’ll cover all kinds of sickness, from short-term to chronic, minor to life-threatening, happening to you or to someone close to you. We’ll deal with how to share the experience of illness with others, but we’ll also go deeply into how you can explore what it means to you, so that you can use your poems to find some solace or release, via the satisfaction of turning it into art.
So I hope you’ll join us, to make poems that transform sickness into meaning and even beauty.
Included are:
Example poems to learn from
Discussion of various approaches to writing powerful poems about illness.
3 specific writing prompts
Writing time
Brief feedback.
Places are limited to 12 people.
