Poetry As Survival

Gregory Orr writes that "poetry is the thread that leads us out of the labyrinth of despair and into the light." Poems that emerge from crisis have the power to heal and re-stabilize us. In this one-day retreat at Gell, participants will work to make sense of the senseless, fashioning containers for their grief. Orr says, "To write by heart is to write by hurt, grief inscribing its wisdom in the softer tissues." Participants will read and discuss poems that explore loss; and write and share about their experience in a safe place, taking a mindful approach to the creative process. Participants also will receive feedback on two poems they submit prior to the workshop. The facilitator will offer prompts and examples of published poems on loss to trigger new work. The workshop will incorporate the Gell Center’s natural setting with opportunities for meditation and nature walks.

Charles Coté’s elegies lament and celebrate the loss of a beloved son, taking the reader through seasons of grief, recovery and transformation. Coté is a clinical social worker in private practice in Rochester, NY and the author of I Play His Red Guitar (Tiger Bark Press, 2019) and Flying for the Window (Finishing Line Press, 2008). His work has appeared in Barrow Street, Big City Lit, Segue, Salamander, The Cortland Review, Connecticut River Review, Upstreet, Connotation Press, Ducts, Terminus, and Quiddity. He teaches poetry at Writers & Books and serves on the boards of 13thirty Cancer Connect, where he often volunteers as creative writing wellness facilitator, and BOA Editions, Ltd. I Play His Red Guitar is his first full-length collection.