The Gift of Vision & The Art of Perception

Mark Nepo

Tuesdays 6:30-9:00
April 7-June 16
(no session on 4/28, 5/5, 5/19)

Cost: $300

Register between January 12 and 23
Class size limited to 22; first come, first enrolled.
Class fee due by Jan 30, 2009
Click "Register" to request more information.

To listen, reflect, and express. This is a lifelong process that keeps us close to what is essential and authentic. This is the rhythm of experience and spirit that lives beneath all poetry. In the realm of deep listening, poetry is more about perception and expression than the manipulation of language. In vital ways, we relate to life more than author it.

Often, I am asked: How do poems come? How do images reveal themselves? Just as important is: How does the poetry within us teach us how to meet the poetry of life? How does our soul reveal itself by relating to the images that connect everything? This is a conversation that begs for a journey. The aim of our time will be to better locate ourselves in relation to the mysterious Whole by honing our gifts of apprehension. In this, we will be exploring the inner art of poetry.

And so, this three-month conversation is an invitation into the river of discovery and retrieval, an invitation to be in relationship with deep and life-giving material, as opposed to inventing and authoring objects of art. Along the way, you will be asked to write and share, though this is not a writing workshop. Work will not be edited but explored as seeds of our humanness by which we meaningfully relate to the world we are in. We will delve into: the courage to listen to your own life, the gift of vulnerability, the willingness to experiment and explore your own voice, the abiding commitment to respect your own and others' journeys, and the life skill of working with what we're given. No experience is required, just a Beginner's Mind and Heart.

Click here to register