From the Desk of Maria Mazziotti Gillan

I am so happy that we have our online workshops for mature adults and that the first session was last Thursday.  The next will be today. I was thrilled by the quality of the work produced by our participants. It is always amazing to me how much fine work emerges from these workshops and how much of a spark it is for each of the poets to react to the poems they write and share.

For me, this last session was particularly important because although we couldn’t take everybody who wanted to be part of this group, we had a full house.

The poets really were able to inspire one another. I have to say for me many of the poems were so emotionally raw and open that I started to cry  I saw that others in the group were also emotional at the quality of the poems.

I always talk about the crow and having to get rid of the crow inside you In order to write your story and your truth. I was so grateful for the magic that happened in the workshop, particularly because I came to the workshop feeling emotionally low and I left it feeling excited and happy and thrilled that so many people could write such amazing poems! For me, it was a living example of how poetry can heal us. it certainly did that for me last Thursday.

Information on Poetry Center Workshops

---

---

Maria Mazziotti Gillan's new poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets which pairs her poems with her paintings. Maria's artist's website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.