Voice into Poetry
a 6-week poetry writing workshop
From what kind of silence have you learned to speak? How have you witnessed (or experienced) your voice change throughout your life? In this series, you’ll reflect on your relationship to your voice and then you’ll turn those reflections into a series of poems that express your experience with compassion, curiosity, and perhaps… even wisdom.
These poems will not just live on the page. You’ll also speak them out loud (for yourself or for the group), and engage with what it feels like to speak creatively to an audience, and share your voice with the world.
A more detailed description of this workshop can be found below. Read testimonials here.
*No experience with poetry writing is necessary to participate.
Register for Class
WHEN: Tuesdays, February 6th – March 26th (no class Feb 13th and 20th)
Time: 12:45-3pm PST (2.25 hours X 6 weeks)
Cost: $275 CAD + GST
Where: Online, over Zoom
Number of participants: 6
Late registration open until February 27th.
Use the discount code ONMYWAY2024 for $15 off.
*You’ve only missed the first class and will receive the freewriting prompts from that session.
Workshop Schedule
We’ll begin every class with a guided conversation about our relationship to silence, apology, assertiveness, and more (different theme each week, see below). I’ll provide a poem that speaks to that theme and some initial reflection questions to get us started, and then your curiosity will guide where we go. Through these conversations, we’ll allow ourselves: to wander, to question, to trust the movement of our own inquiries, and to listen.
Next, we’ll explore the process of speaking that week’s poem out loud with an awareness of:
- our relationship to silence, breath, and the audience;
- how we might resonantly speak the phrases that most honestly expresses our experience;
- how we might play with both movement and sound;
- and more
These explorations of speaking are gentle and can be done privately (with your camera and mic off). The intention is to offer you simple somatic exercises to explore your experience of voice, using poetry as your text.
In the second half of class, you’ll nestle into a 45 minute guided writing practice (you can turn your camera off) where you’ll bring your reflections together by a writing a poem. You can think of the poetry you write during each session as a time capsule — capturing your experience now, to be returned to later whenever it’s needed.
At the end of each class, you’ll have an opportunity to speak the poetry you just wrote out loud, and hear the poetry of others. You’ll be invited to respond to one another’s work, sharing where each poem carried your imagination. We’ll bring everything together in the final class of this 6-week series.
Here’s a breakdown of each session in this series:
Week 1: Silence
“…the first question we might ask any poem is, What kind of voice is breaking silence, and what kind of silence is being broken?”
– Adrienne Rich, Arts of the Possible (essay)
From what sort of silence have you learned to speak? Are there any silenced ones that you speak for? Explore your experience, and then… write a poem.
In this session, we’ll notice the role of silence when both performing and writing.
Week 2: Your Voice
“It’s true. My voice is — I’ve been told on numerous occasions — unlikely. Childlike, almost. Not seductive. Informal… The older I get, the more my voice seems to disagree with what people perceive of me.
– Durga Chew-Bose, from ‘Too Much Not the Mood’
What do you find frustrating about your voice? What do you love about your voice? Let’s begin where we are. Explore the experience of your voice with compassion and then… write a poem.
In this session, we’ll notice how our breath could support us as both speakers and writers.
Week 3: Apology
“didn’t think to be angry… only remember the slight shape your mouth took to form sorry”
– Kathy Mak, how far did you have to go (poem)
Perhaps you’re far too familiar with the shape of an apology, or perhaps there are discomforts your voice has been avoiding and it’s time to honour the wisdom of your regret. Explore your experience and then… write a poem.
In this session, we’ll discuss the practice of finding language that creatively and honestly speaks to our experience. How does it feel to speak that language out loud?
Week 4: Assertiveness
“I want the how it was voice; / the call me irresponsible but aren’t I nice voice; / the such a bastard but I warn them in advance voice.”
– Ann Sansom, Voice (poem)
How does it feel to use your voice to protect either yourself or those close to you? Explore your experience and then… write a poem.
In this session, we’ll practice speaking with assertiveness and confidence.
Week 5: Playfulness
“Lemon… even if you simply say it, / pooling full in the mouth, a greenish-hued yellow / so fragrant / so forlorn / so very tart…”
— Kim Seung-Hee, Lemon-Juice Squeezing Time (poem)
Oh, it can be so much fun to speak: to shape language with your tongue, your teeth; your vowels resounding within the caverns of your body. Explore the many delights of expression, and then… write a poem.
In this session, we’ll explore the playful aspects of writing and performance, including how to play with movement and sound.
Week 6: Performance
“I remember the way the movement of a poem would get stuck in my head until I wrote it down… I remember the sensation and calm afterward, the same now, as it was then. The gasp of relief that something new was discovered where it could have been easily lost. I didn’t perform on stage until early 2009, the feeling was instantly amplified. Me, alone on stage holding my own throat like a bottle full of lightening, and a whole room gathered around to witness.””
– Jillian Christmas, from her interview with Poetry is Dead Magazine (Issue 19:Drama)
In the final session of this series, you’ll choose one of the poems you wrote (or one of the poems we read) and you’ll engage in a 3 part mindful rehearsal process, before speaking your poem out loud for the group. You are not required to share your poem at the end, and can opt to simply listen.
We’ll conclude with a final reflection and conversation on what it has felt like to share your voice in this way through poetry and performance. What did you predict would happen? What did you find surprising?
Facilitated by Christine Bissonnette
Voice is topic that has engrossed me for over a decade. I recently put together this video, reflecting on how my relationship to my voice has changed. If you’d like to learn more about me, this is a great place to start.
You can also view my bio by going here.