Rest in Poetry (as Resistance)

I want to offer you, this summer, a place to rest, to enjoy poetry, and to resist the myth of nonstop production together in a group of fellow creative, caring humans.

In this five-week course, we will embrace poetry (so unimportant in a “productive,” capitalistic culture!) as a method of rest. And rest as vital to creating poetry. Many of us are taught to read poetry with the intellectual mind that dissects, analyzes, over-analyzes. How exhausting! Here we will engage in methods of reading poetry that are restful to the mind, help us attune to the wisdom of the body, give our whole system the chance to restore. You know how some of your best ideas or inspirations come after a nap or in the shower or while driving — when the mind is at rest? We will enter into a variety of contemporary poetry as a practice to invite more rest … and see what emerges.

“Rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy. Both these toxic systems refuse to see the inherent divinity in human beings and have used bodies as a tool for production, evil, and destruction for centuries. … The Rest Is Resistance movement is a connection and a path back to our true nature. … We are enough. We are divine.

Tricia Hersey, Rest is Resistance

Rest, as Tricia Hersey defines it in her Rest is Resistance manifesto (which we will refer to throughout the course), is anything that brings us back to ourselves, back to our true nature. Rest is not just sleep, but could be dance, swimming, a 5- minute time-out — it’s a state that brings a sense of abundance, enough-ness, inspiration, and dreams. We rest, close our eyes, take five minutes, and read and write poetry not so that we can go out and be better producers and capitalists, but so that we can claim precious moments of our own humanity that are our birthright.

Poetry is rich with expressions of common humanity, and both the reading of poetry and the way we read poetry — in a meditative, embodied way — can put us in touch with our nature. And being in touch with our own nature with a group of fellow humans is a revolutionary act in a culture that distracts us and demands our relentless participation. We will cultivate methods of meditation, writing, reading poetry and will explore elements that make it restful. We will see for ourselves the effects of rest and community. The hope is that from a place of rest flows play, inspiration, imagination, new perspectives, even solutions, that we need for ourselves and our society.

I hope you will join as we explore rest, play, and expression through contemporary poetry, find some togetherness in a supportive space, and reclaim our centeredness.

Ready to Join?

Limit 8 participants

Rest is natural great peace
The exhausted mind
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought,
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara

Nyoshul Khenpo quoted in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

What You Will Gain

• A small group of people who resist the narrative of nonstop production and support each other in reclaiming space, creativity, and humanity for ourselves
• New methods of reading poetry and receiving each others’ words with a rested mind, attuned body, free to feel and respond
• More understanding of elements of poetry that make it restful and artful: Music and rhythm, form, word choice, metaphor, image
• Meditative exercises that you can apply to your own practice of rest and of appreciating poetry
• Writing prompts (and time to write) which encourage creating from rest and play and imagination
• A space where all are welcome and all is welcome: grief, sadness, frustration, anger, doubt, joy, connection, where all can be brought, shared, held, reflected upon
• Individual feedback and discussion to support your writing and poetry reading

What is Included

Five live sessions plus an individual one-on-one session with your instructor.

Each session will include a short meditation practice applicable to that week’s topic, reading and discussing poetry together with a specific element of poetry as the focus each week, reflection and application of our learnings to our lives, and prompts for writing.

• July 8: Open awareness, rested mind / Form and line
• July 15: Attuning to the body / Sound and music
• July 22: Looking and sensing / Imagery and object
• July 29: Reality and interconnection / Perspective, Metaphor
• Aug. 5: Imagination / Surprise, Revelation, Insight
• Plus: A one-on-one meeting with me to discuss your writing or questions from the course, further reading suggestions, etc. (Optional but encouraged!)

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Bonus Writing Drop-in Sessions!

• I am offering weekly (restful) drop-in sessions on Zoom on Fridays at 12 p.m. (in addition to our course meetings) to write quietly together and engage in a short reflection on an element of poetry craft, a poem, or a Q&A. You will receive free admission to these sessions for the summer with your registration!

About Your Instructor / Questions?

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