Hi there, this blog has gone on an extended vacation. Not sure when it will return, but in the meantime, you can visit my much more assiduous website www.matthewbrouwerpoet.com.
Blog on Hiatus
Reply
Michael Meade: The Trouble with Genius
The second part to Michael Meade’s continued blog essay on Huffington Post.
www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-meade-dhl/genius-fame_b_1563235.html
Mythologist Michael Meade on the genius within us all
Link to Michael Meade’s new blog on Huffington Post where he examines the nature of the unique genius that lies within us all. Michael is a renowned mythologist and storyteller and man who’s work I greatly admire and respect.
Underworld Journeys: Tools for Navigating Times of Hardship and Loss
Saturday, April 21st, 1-4pm
The Old Foundry, 100 E Maple Street, Bellingham, WA
Sometimes we are overtaken by tragedies and traumas that stop us completely in our tracks. From these episodes, powerful emotions of fear, anger, anxiety, and sadness can arise that seem impossible to escape. Mythologically, this emotional territory is known as the underworld—the place of shadows and death. While we often interpret it as hell, many spiritual traditions render the underworld as more benign, a dark and difficult region we must visit at times to learn essential information about our deeper selves. Alongside practical tools and ideas for navigating underworld experiences, the workshop will also be rich in opportunities to share your own story and hear from others who may be going through similar periods of hardship and loss.
Register with the Whatcom Folk School at www.whatcomfolkschool.org Cost $30. Contact me at matthewbrouwerpoet@gmail.com or (360) 510-9686 if you have any questions.
New Poetry Site: matthewbrouwerpoet.com
My new poetry site is now up and running: www.matthewbrouwerpoet.com. Weekly poems and updates about poetry performances, workshops and such will now be featured there.
In the next month, I’m planning to revive odinstongue.com as a blog for spiritual, cultural, and political commentary as well as my home site for promoting my work as an organizational consultant and mentor.
Stay tuned. In the meantime, how about a poem:
Boulevard Park
Sun pounds the Earth with a mallet
It’s September 2
Time to cast things in bronze
Last night some longing slipped up
the Salish Sea
died it an unquenching blue
And upon the wind
first spittle of cold sends an early text
Vacation on Baffin nearly through
All of us lying out on the well-manicured grass
amidst the carefully positioned trees
trying our best to believe it can’t possibly be true
Wispy high clouds part like stage fog
And there’s half-smile moon
floating
like a white kiss
And now again she’s gone
Catch me if you can
Buddha Monk
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Teddy Bear Cove
Gallery
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Of course there are too many people here for the reason why I came Which was to look splendid doing yoga on the rocks above the sound which was to sit within the silence of the sun until the stillness … Continue reading
Writing Poetry that has Power
Aside
WRITING POETRY THAT HAS POWER
Saturday, January 28th 1-4pm
Time in Play Cafe, 311 E Holly Street, Bellingham, WA
You’ve probably encountered a poem at some point that has struck you to the core. Something about its imagery and language stirs your emotions and reaches you precisely where you’re at. This workshop explores how to connect with that place inside us that is passionate, agitated, and alive in order to produce poetry that has both intellectual and emotional power. When coupled with one’s natural capacity for language, the product is writing that stimulates the mind, jolts the body, probes the soul, and moves the heart.
Registration is through the Whatcom Folk School. Register at: www.whatcomfolkschool.org/for-students ($15 WFS Registration Fee, $15 Instructor Dues). Please contact me if cost is prohibitive, matthewbrouwerpoet@gmail.com.
Is Occupy Wall Street Enough? Two Veteran Organizers Respond
Doubts about my critical opinion of Occupy Wall Street? Here’s a link to a great article by a pair of community organizers with decades of experience working for the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) about what Occupy Wall Street lacks and how the movement can build power for lasting change.
Occupy Wall Street’s Anger Isn’t Enough: How the Push for Change can be Sustained
Why Occupy Wall Street will (Probably) Fail
Gallery
This gallery contains 1 photo.
A few days ago, the New York Times ran an article on the phenomenon of “Zucotti lung,” the slew of respiratory ailments manifesting as coughing, congestion, and wheezing that is spreading rapidly amongst Occupy Wall Street protestors as they endure … Continue reading
