These are challenging times, and literature has become a lifeline for so many of us to deeply feel, experience and express our feelings, fears and hopes. Poetry — should you decide to eschew the fear and embrace it! — transports us: it brings us more deeply into our own worlds and experiences, and helps us find connections where we wouldn’t see them otherwise

Our discussion of poetry has been so successful that we have decided to offer it as an ongoing experience. In this fun, low-pressure and engaging drop-in group for poetry beginners, we’ll demystify and celebrate poetry. Whether you joined us the first time or are newly starting with us, fear not: there will be plenty of accessible, moving poems to read and discuss together. Poetry beginners are welcome and encouraged!

Together, we’ll learn that poetry isn’t always the difficult and inaccessible medium many fear, discovering the joy and catharsis these works were always meant to inspire. We’ll allow these poems to bring us comfort, meaning and release during this incredibly difficult time. We’ll read mostly contemporary poetry, and a few classics, too (to remind us that the poems we learned in school are perhaps more relatable than we thought!).

The poetry packet, representing a wide array of voices and circumstances, has something for everyone; even the absolute poetry novice. All are welcome!