Rivers, Daughters, and February 2017 Writing Courses from Feral Mom

Photo by Robyn Beattie

Thank you to Andrew Purcell at The Journal of Applied Poetics for running four poems of mine about rivers and daughters. You can read the poems here:  Thirteen, Russian River, Perihelion, My Daughter By Candlelight, and Graduation.

I'm also very honored to report that poems, some of them from the commune manuscript that is now out in circulation, are forthcoming at Whale Road Review, Nimrod International, and Chiron Review.

I also want to thank Robyn Beattie for the beautiful image featured here. It is a detail from one of her clay boats--you've seen so many of Robyn's photos in my blogposts over the years as well as in our collaborative poetry movies. This month Calabi gallery in Santa Rosa is carrying a number of Robyn's beautiful moon and boat sculptures; do stop by (virtually if not in person) to visit her page in order to see her work and read her bio: Calabi Gallery, Robyn's work.

I’m loving teaching my latest course, Election Blues: The Gift of Agency in Poetry. I hope you are finding a way to peace as much as possible in your heart through whatever action you need to take during these tumultuous times in order to make sure your voice is being heard…witnessing and breaking silence are two powerful ways we are blessed as writers to participate. To that end, I hope to be of service to you in person or on-line. Below you’ll find my upcoming courses.

Artwork by Tania Pryputniewicz

Where Is The Love? An On-line Course: Virtual Hearth

Are you overwhelmed living in the stress of the divisive and fractured state of affairs we find ourselves in locally, nationally, and internationally? If so, my upcoming six-week course may offer what you are looking for: I’ve designed it as an intentionally peaceful and loving  virtual hearth. Each week we’ll draw on love-related themes from the Tarot and you’ll have the opportunity to write to poetry, art, music, and meet over Zoom to write in real time and share writing in the presence of a supportive community.  Writers at every level of experience are welcome and the response to the prompts is wide open—I encourage you to write in the genre of your choice (for example, by free-writing, journaling, crafting blogposts, writing poems, or writing non-fiction essays or short stories).

You'll receive a weekly video introduction to the week's theme and the week's poetry, art, and music prompts. Course will be conducted over a combination of email, Zoom, and private discussion forum. Cost for this six-week session is $290; session runs *March 13-April 21, 2017 (note amended dates). Use the contact form on this blog (below my photo in the sidebar) to email me for sign-up details or visit my Wheel of Archetypal Selves Facebook page to IM me there for more information.

SDWI First Tuesdays: Theme Set Go, February Love

My in-person monthly themed poetry workshop continues at San Diego Writers, Ink over at Liberty Station on Tuesday, February 7th. February's theme is....Love, of course...but I mean love in all forms. Come and write a Valentine's Day poem or two--for your Valentine, your child, your pet, your father, your friend. Or write an anti-Valentine's day Ode--we won't turn you away.

Either way, bring your love weary or love enthralled self out to write with me.  We are a dedicated, intimate circle of poets and always welcome a few more bodies. Contact me if you have any questions. Sign up here: Tania's First Tuesdays Theme Set Go Class

Cover Photo and Design Don Mitchell

March Poetry Workshop with Rizzo and Pryputniewicz:

Lisa Rizzo and I will join forces to celebrate the launch of her new poetry book, Always A Blue House (Saddle Road Press, December 2016). I'm over the moon that she's joining the Saddle Road Press family of authors! We will co-teach a workshop titled:

Everyday Pilgrimages: Metaphors, Questions, and Omens 

• Saturday March 4th, 10-12 am
• San Diego Writers, Ink in Liberty Station
• $30 fee includes copy of Lisa Rizzo’s Always a Blue House

In Always a Blue House (Saddle Road Press, December 2016), Lisa Rizzo’s poems range between the earthbound house of human perception and the limitless plane of soul questions elicited by opening one’s heart to the blue angel of poetry. Whether she is listening in the depths of the Oregon Caves for “what had not yet been unearthed” or asking of her readers, “will you follow me?” Rizzo’s questions linger: “What gifts do I give?” “Does faith remain when memory is lost?” In November Butterfly, Tania Pryputniewicz introduces the reader to the lives of iconic women. Through personae poems, she explores metaphors and offers similar invitations:  “Let us begin with the worm / its translucent omen…”

Join us for a two-hour workshop exploring the ways we can use metaphors, questions, and omens to write the poetry of our lives. Class time will allow for a close look at a few poems from each writer's collection as a starting point for creating your own work, writing time, and sharing time. For a full course description and to sign up, visit:  Everyday Pilgrimages: Metaphors, Questions, and Omens 

Sourcing Siapo and Where Hitler Hides at MWM

Mother Writer Mentor (MWM) is pleased to remain active interviewing writers in our ongoing effort to document the matrilineal lineage of writing, writing scholarship and mentorship between women writers (regardless of where they fall on the public spectrum of publishing). Do you write? You qualify--so just know we are always on the look-out for guest posts especially from daughters of writing mothers, writing mothers with daughters, any possible combination or tangential topic. We are eager to support you getting yourself to the page. In the meantime, check out the latest two interviews we posted below.

Sourcing Siapo: A Poem and Interview with Penina Ava Taesali

Samoan writer, poet, educator, and cultural arts activist Penina Taesali, author of Sourcing Siapo, (University of Hawaii, Ala Press 2016) spoke with us and shared an excerpt from her book. Penina describes here for us part of her process: 

I had a vision of a woman walking wrapped in her siapo cloak and descending into the underground. It is a mythic shamanic story of descending and ascending. When I got home I quickly wrote the first draft of what would become the poem that appears on page sixty-four... 

Read the rest of the interview and the poem here: Sourcing Siapo: A Poem and Interview with Penina Ava Taesali

Where Hitler Hides: An Interview and Trigger Story by Marlene Samuels

We honored International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27) at MWM by running an interview with writer Marlene B. Samuels, Ph.D. and publishing an excerpt from her new manuscript, Where Hitler Hides: A Memoir in Short Stories, or actually a Trigger Story as she refers to stories that "stem from an experience that triggered memories whose roots are mired in Holocaust related events or damages." When Samuels learned that her mother was experimented on at Ravensbruck (Hitler's concentration camp for women), she told us, 

I do know from being a writer, that the best--perhaps only, way for me to make sense out of what I learned, how and when, is to deconstruct my reactions through the process of research and writing.

Read the rest of the interview and her Trigger Story "My Father's Sidewalks" at Where Hitler Hides: An Interview and Trigger Story here.