"The Heart of Who We Are": Exploring Compassion through Poetry

A four-week series with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

• WHAT: A four-week poetry writing playshop

• WHEN: October 23 and 30, November 6 and 13, 2024, at 6:00-8:00PM CT

  • 7:00-9:00PM ET

  • 5:00-7:00PM MT

  • 4:00-6:00PM PT

• WHERE: Zoom

• MATERIALS NEEDED: Your favorite writing tools

• OPEN TO ALL: No prior experience with poetry-writing necessary

• YOUR INVESTMENT: $100 for the series (use your Rafter discount at checkout). Scholarships available

• CAN’T MAKE A SESSION? Replay available

• QUESTIONS? Contact me (phyllis@phylliscoledai.com)

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Compassion—a necessity, not a luxury

Imagine a world where people are kinder to others and to themselves. Let’s read about it, talk about it, write about it, share it, live into it.

In this process-oriented four-week creative writing playshop that straddles the US presidential election, we’ll explore the art of self-compassion and compassion for others. What does “process-oriented” mean? We’ll be less interested in writing something perfect and more interested in exploring our own stumbling blocks and epiphanies.

Creative practice is very fertile ground for meeting our most intolerant and callous self-critic. How might the practice of writing poetry teach us something valuable about self-compassion? It’s all practice!

As the Dalai Lama writes, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” Let’s explore this necessity together. 

All levels of poetry-writing experience welcome.

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About Rosemerry

Guiding you in this journey will be Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

Rosemerry is a poet, teacher, speaker and writing facilitator who co-hosts the Emerging Form podcast on creative process. Her daily audio series, The Poetic Path, is on the Ritual app on your phone. Her poems have appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, PBS News Hour, O Magazine, American Life in Poetry, and Carnegie Hall stage. Her most recent poetry collections are All the Honey (Samara Press, 2023) and The Unfolding (forthcoming, Wildhouse Publishing, October 2024). In January, 2024, she became the first poet laureate for Evermore, helping others explore grief, bereavement, wonder and love through poetry. One-word mantra: Adjust.

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Questions?

I hope you’re as excited about this series as I am! If you have questions, contact me at phyllis@phylliscoledai.com!