What started as an invitation to share a new spoken word poem on grief turned into an opportunity to facilitate a group poetry writing session as a path for healing. I’ve never done anything like this before, but I was moved to use poetry as a creative outlet that members could experiment with.

I offered a prompt as a starting point: What’s one memory that stands out to you, or a lesson that your loved one taught you? What’s something surprising that you learned from grief?

For me and so many others, poetry helps us access deeper feelings. My poems are a public way of ‘showing my work’ to the world as I try and figure out something in my life. It’s my way of saying, “Here’s what I have so far, what about you?” My writing and sharing process has allowed me to make sense of grief and find beauty in what it shows me. If I sit with grief long enough, it turns into gratitude.

Poetry can be a pathway to help us thaw out and begin to feel again. Hearing the poems of each participant allowed us to ‘meet’ each other’s loved ones and get to know them and their special relationships. We shared memories and tears.

I never imagined that my ‘work’ and spoken word poetry- an art form that I love so much- could intersect in this way. But here we are.

I am deeply grateful. Today something shifted in me and I know (like a deep, deep knowing) that this is a seed for something much greater that can help assist others in their own healing journeys.

Now, I’m off to Esalen. I am excited to soak, share, learn, listen, connect, and commune with nature and like-minded healers and spiritual seekers.

I’ll see you on the other side. <3