We could all stand to read more poetry. Even more so, we could all stand to WRITE more poetry. Poetry is what happens when you play with play-doh or finger paints, except with words. Reading poetry can be a reminder of how delicious our words can be when they are served up by different people. Writing poetry can remind us how dynamic and beautiful the world is when we notice it, and describe our noticing.

But, writing is hard! Fortunately, it is also something we can learn and get better at, especially if we have a good poetry teacher.

This video is a poem about a poetry teacher teaching a poetry-writing exercise, and in the process discovering what poetry is and can do. The exercise is based off of this Emily Dickinson poem. We looked at this poem recently with our 7th – 12th grade class. We found a lot to get out of thinking about what poetry can tell us about imagining new worlds for ourselves. Watch an animation of this poem here, and consider how you might play around with language today:

Sometimes it is hard to tap into our spiritual selves or find time to nurture our creativity and intellectual curiosity. Here is a section that reflects on some nourishing materials from around the web and related media channels in order to get us thinking, get us feeling, and get us reflecting on the lives we are living in this big world. **Some Adult/Mature Themes May Appear in Links and Other Attached Material**

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Allan T. Georgia, MDiv, MTS, PhD

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