POETRY IS NOT A LUXURY CLUB

I’ve personally always struggled with poetry – both reading and writing it. After discovering Audre Lorde’s “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” my entire perspective on the medium shifted. I knew I wanted this club to be a core part of The Gathering for some time now, so I’m happy to announce our first meeting will be July 13th!

The Agenda:

This is a very low-stakes poetry club where we will spend two hours reading, discussing, writing, and sharing poetry. No one is required to share, but I do think it’s important for us to have a space where sharing is encouraged, especially for those of us who don’t really identify as poets. 

Reading + Discussing

We’ll start off every meeting by reading “Poetry is Not a Luxury” to invoke Audre and her energy into the space. From there, we’ll share any poems that have resonated with us recently and how we interpreted them/what they mean to us. Each month there will be a featured collection in case folks want to treat it like a book club, but reading of that collection is absolutely not required! 

Prompts/Themes + Writing

Once everyone has shared their selected poems, I’ll have either prompts or a specific theme to kick off the writing portion of the meeting. Remember, we’re engaging in the act of writing poetry because it is an incredibly necessary part of surviving and creating, not because we’re “good” at it. You’re more than welcome to use the theme or prompts, and you’re also free to work on any poems you’ve already got going or free write all on your own!

Sharing Ceremony

If you’d like to be witnessed, we’ll close out the meeting with a sharing ceremony where you’re invited to read aloud anything you’ve worked on before or during our session. Sharing is never required but always encouraged! 

July’s Featured Collection: UNRULY by Antoinette Cooper

Meeting Date: 7/13 from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST 

Cost: Free!