Thank you, Northwest Author Series

On Sunday, I spoke at the Northwest Author Series about the power of poetry to transform our lives, community and world. Christina Katz, hostess with the mostess, suggested the topic; I'm so glad she did! In preparation, I spent a few weeks contemplating, researching, writing and corresponding with my local poet friends about the alchemy of poetry in our lives.

David Hare says "The act of writing is the act of discovering what we believe." This has always been my experience, and writing my lecture was no exception. I think my happiest discovery-through-writing was this one: Poetry is the electrical current of desire––to understand, to give name to, and to share––that anchors us to our humanity and to each other.

This current of desire magnetized 22 beautiful people to the Wilsonville Library on a Sunday afternoon where we told stories, explored questions and followed the golden thread of inspiration that stitched through our time together. I came home overcome with gratitude that there are others where I live who care passionately about poetry and are willing to splash about in the great depths of its mysteries with me.

Thank you to Christina for yet another gracious invitation to go deeper into my knowing and come back with an offering to share with my community. Each time I rise to a Christina challenge, I stretch beyond my previous idea of what might be possible and get a little braver, stand a little taller, then smile all the way home.

Comments

[Christina Katz]

Aw, shucks. Thanks.

You were terrific. Everyone thought so.

And anyone looking for guide through the often times intimidating realm of the poetic can contact Sage Cohen at sage@sagesaidso.com to make it all the more accessible.