Words with soil on their roots
writing the poetry of Earth
workshops online and in person to encourage the propogation of poetry
This is an offering for those of us who are moved by the beauty and suffering of this planet and the times we are in to write words in forms that might be called poems…
Poetry is a way of seeing the world . John Clare describes the poet as a “priest(ess) of the invisible “ Poetry is what is seen from the doorway between the everyday world and the invisible world, like mycelium it underlies all . So a poem is like a fruiting body from that mycelial layer - a magic mushroom that takes the poet (and sometimes the reader) on a journey that helps them re-member that the most whole expression of what it is to be human is to live at that threshold, perceiving the mysteries and magic of it all. For me, poetry is the oldest universal language and all beings, human and otherwise, speak it. It’s job in these difficult times is to cast spells that weave the worlds together.
Who is this for ?
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Those who might not identify themselves as poets but who write in poetic forms ,
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Those that recognise they are poets but are furtive about it ( …so many notebooks with scrawlings …)
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Those that know they are poets and long for a place to get inspired,heard and helped to speak even more beautifully about what they sift ( sense, imagine, feel and think)
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Those who speak/ feel/ think poetically but haven't yet written anything.
What is being offered ?
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A place of alongsideness with other poets ( self declared or not!) that will not be dominated by egos competing for airspace - rather it is held as a creative offering to Earth. My aim is that the most sensitive amongst us can feel at home.
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Writing prompts and nature based practices so that, instead of waiting for your muse to whisper in your ear, you can learn how to court your creativity playfully and powerfully
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Some tips and guidance from me on how to hone what you write and respectful feedback from others of what they enjoyed , were moved by, where they got lost etc
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Details of times and money investment.
ONLINE in small group of 6 : 3 x 2.5 hour zoom session 6 pm 30th March / 13th April/ 28th April
IN PERSON ( for those local to SA32) : 3 x Evening sessions : 31st march/ 14th april / 28th april 6.30 pm- 9pm
( arrive at 6pm to settle in)
Includes:
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check-in,
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nature connection practices
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tips for writing poems that better express what is being manifested through you in the form of words;
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writing prompts;
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sharing of people’s poems for feedback from group.
Sliding scale of £ 45- 75 for 3 sessions
(get in contact if the price excludes you!)
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For more information and to book please email me , saying whether it is on-line or in person sessions that you are interested in:
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bellselkie @gmail.com
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about your host
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I have been writing poetry since I was 8 and I have found it to be a way of undoing the knot in me so that i am freer to weave myself more fully into my belonging to earth and to myself. I have a distinction at Masters level in Creative Writing with poetry as my primary focus.
I am a nature based human development guide, trained with Animas Valley Institute as well as being an experienced and BACP accredited counsellor and NCFE accredited life coach. My experience of guiding individuals and groups with the other-than-human world as mirror to discover their own true nature is what underpins this offering.
Ars Poetica
Place : Afon Tywi ( River Towy) Season : Samhain
Headlamps slow sweep
the stubble field like hunters,
finding a lightness of swans
hunkered below the wind.
River is a mystery tonight –
its blackness a lapping edge,
its source oozes from the arched
shadow of the old stone bridge.
I kneel on the sandbank
hear scrabbles in the undergrowth
and owl, white emissary of moon,
glides like a ghost and shrieks.
And suddenly poetry is what
is weaving the worlds together -
not a luxury but the language
of the quintessential spell
and a poem appears like a fruiting
body, a mushroom perfectly risen
from the dark tangle of web we forget
that is pinned by stars to the cosmos.