Narrative Poetry and the Oral Tradition of Storytelling, with Monica Lee Weatherly, explores the art of storytelling through verse. In this workshop, participants of all experience levels are invited to learn the history of narrative poetry and develop skills to create poetry that combines the rhythmical qualities of language with the traditional elements of a story including, character, plot, structure and theme.

Taking its title from a Talking Heads song, this two-hour workshop uses verbal play, emphasizing lyricism and non-narrative technique. As in jazz, a lyrical poem riffs on the verbal energy of its initial lines to evolve towards a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

This workshop will explore a broad range of writers, from Thicht Nhat Hahn to San Juan de la Cruz to Toni Morrison, whose writing has been anchored by their belief in (or search for) the Divine.