Poetry as Nourishment

A practice of embodied reading around a shared table

Saturday, April 11, 2026 / 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. PDT

Virtual – on Zoom

$45

Limit 18 participants

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What does it feel like to be nourished?

To eat can be to savor, digest, satisfy; or scarf down, fuel, snack on the run between obligations. Can a parallel be drawn to spiritual nourishment? Society often rewards staying in productive, on-the-go mode, whereas the quieter, restorative practices can be put on the “back burner,” so to speak. Mere survival is necessary, but so, too, is true nourishment.

Krista Tippet says we are starving for poetry and don’t know it. But many of us have been taught to analyze a poem with only the intellect, dissecting its pieces like planning an optimal diet that meets theories of nutrient ratios but doesn’t really nourish — like a satisfying, flavorful, drawn-out meal shared with the closest friends. We can learn to savor a poem’s sounds and images, take a poem fully into our bodies and feel how it feels in our mouths to speak the words, move with the rhythm, attune to our responses, our breathing. Poetry can nourish our spirits, and an embodied practice of reading poetry (especially sharing it together) can prime us for nourishing ourselves in other aspects of our lives. Maybe we can use these practices to make even our daily tasks more nourishing — so that hands in warm, soapy water and a wiped-clean dish feels restorative.

In this morning retreat, we will allow ourselves the time and attention to be nourished. We’ll engage in embodied reading practices of contemporary poems (about food, hunger, sharing a meal) with attention to their qualities of sound, rhythm, and image that resonate in our bodies.The content of the poems themselves will provide discussion of nourishment — sharing in community, preparing and creating, taking time to savor, among other themes. We will meditate or reflect together, practice embodied reading and discussion, and do some writing that leaves us restored and connected. By the session’s end, we will reflect on what nourishes us, how we are nourished, and how we can apply these learnings to our lives.

Please join me in carving out a morning to nourish yourself and be nourished in a supportive community space — like enjoying a good meal around a warm table.

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“And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

Dead Poet’s Society

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Session Plan:

First hour: The act of nourishing. How do we nourish ourselves through food and poetry and through things we take in in life?

Sit, journal, discuss, and read a poem together in which we practice savoring, setting a place, chewing on, digesting words.

Second hour: What is nourishment? What does it give us? Why do we need it? Where do we find it?

Walking meditation, writing exercise, sharing, reading and discussing a poem, sitting with what it is to be nourished.

Third hour: What is lacking? What keeps us from being nourished?

Short sitting meditation, “Poetry is not a luxury,” reading and discussion of a poem, reflection on nourishing our lives/overcoming the barriers.

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“… Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence.”

Audre Lorde

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Ready to Sign Up?

We will meet on Zoom. The link and other meeting logistics will be sent in an email after you register.

All you will need is a notebook and pen (or preferred writing tools), comfortable clothing and amenities (water, tea or coffee, blanket, slippers, etc.). Poems and reading materials will be provided during the session.

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