Poems for Hope and Healing, online reading group in May

 

Book via Eventbrite by clicking HERE

 

Each session will be an invitation to pause, reflect, and pray. We’ll discover how reading poetry together can be a spiritual practice that helps us listen to our emotions, see the world in surprising ways, and open the doors of our own creativity. Poetry has a special power to speak straight to our hearts and to jolt us with its insights.

This is a slow and mindful reading group, to which everyone is warmly welcome. You will receive the poems & a worksheet in advance. Each session will feature: thoughtful conversation about the poems; time for journaling and creative reflection with prompts to inspire you; gentle questions that invite spiritual exploration. Our chosen poems, by Emily Dickinson, Wendell Berry, Denise Levertov, and many more, explore our relationship with the divine, the healing power of nature, and the emotions that shape our bonds with both God and one another.

Jessica Brown is a Church of Ireland ordinand, poet (with 2 published collections), novelist (2 published novels), singer-songwriter, teacher, & mentor with experience leading workshops in schools, prisons, festivals, & community events. Catherine Smith is the Operations Executive of CMHI. Her doctoral research was on Irish literature, and she’s a passionate reader of poetry. This series is made possible through donations. If that isn’t possible for you at the moment, just email CMHI & we’ll book you in.

Image of ladder by Armand Khoury on Unsplash

Image of eggs by Rachael Gorjestani on Unsplash