Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT April 28th 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a an excerpt from the play Molly Sweeney” by Brian Friel, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite about a period of difficult change.โ€

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (โ€œLeave a Replyโ€), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if youโ€™re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Monday May 5th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

An excerpt from the play Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel.

Credit: Brian Friel


Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT April 25th 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem Characteristics of Life” by Camille T. Dungy, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite of an impossible hope.โ€

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (โ€œLeave a Replyโ€), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if youโ€™re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Monday April 28th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Characteristics of Life  by Camille T. Dungy

A fifth of animals without backbones could be at risk of extinction, say scientists.
โ€”BBC Nature News


Ask me if I speak for the snail and I will tell you
I speak for the snail.
I speak of underneathedness
and the welcome of mosses,
of life that springs up,
little lives that pull back and wait for a moment.

I speak for the damselfly, water skeet, mollusk,
the caterpillar, the beetle, the spider, the ant.
I speak
from the time before spinelessness was frowned upon.

Ask me if I speak for the moon jelly. I will tell you
one thing today and another tomorrow
and I will be as consistent as anything alive
on this earth.

I move as the currents move, with the breezes.
What part of your nature drives you? You, in your cubicle
ought to understand me. I filter and filter and filter all day.

Ask me if I speak for the nautilus and I will be silent
as the nautilus shell on a shelf. I can be beautiful
and useless if that's all you know to ask of me.

Ask me what I know of longing and I will speak of distances
between meadows of night-blooming flowers.
I will speak
the impossible hope of the firefly.

You with the candle
burning and only one chair at your table must understand
such wordless desire.

To say it is mindless is missing the point.

Copyright Credit: "Characteristics of Lifeโ€ from Trophic Cascade ยฉ 2017 by Camille Dungy. Published by Wesleyan University Press. Used by permission.
Source: Trophic Cascade (Wesleyan University Press, 2017)

Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT April 14th 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Of Avocados” by Juan J. Morales, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite about what to return for.โ€

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (โ€œLeave a Replyโ€), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if youโ€™re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Friday April 25th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Of Avocados by Juan J. Morales

Like two hands pressed
together, they are twice as large
on the island. One feeds
the family meal, sending us to wonder
why are they so small
stateside? On our last visit to PR
we sat on my tรญoโ€™s patio
to talk and drink cafecitos.
My dad stared down the giant tree
burdened with dark green fruit.
His brother didnโ€™t offer him
a single one.
My tรญo died soon after
that visit. Dad kept bringing up
the abundance his brother never offered,
not as a grudge, but as a recollection
of what we still couldnโ€™t get in the states,
of what was delicious enough
to keep all borders open.

Within the year, two more
of dadโ€™s siblings passed away
and last week we lost him,
a man who planned to return for
one more avocado. For each of us,
he would have peeled away craggy skin,
parsed the flesh, and held out
those green wedges
on the point of his knife. We would have
accepted it
as one last gift
to savor in our mouths.

Credit:Juan J. Morales

Encuentros virtuales en vivo: Sรกbado 12 de abril, 13:00 EDT

Asistimos 10 personas, de Nueva York, California, Espaรฑa, Berlรญn, y Argentina. 

Hicimos una lectura atenta del cuadro de Oskar Kokoschka,ย Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze Conrat, 1909.ย 

Lo primero que se notรณ es que parece que la mujer es una paciente, con un rostro pรกlido. Que la pareja parece aparte, como si cada uno estuviera en lo suyo.

La siguiente persona comentรณ que es increรญble como cada persona tiene una percepciรณn tan diferente de la imagen. Tambiรฉn dijo que el hombre no quiere mirarle a los ojos a la mujer. Se hablo de las manos rojas del hombre. ยฟSerรก sangre?

Otra persona notรณ que los colores detrรกs de la mujer son mรกs turbulentos. Como si ella estuviera apoyada en algo; como que la mano de ella se estรก protegiendo de รฉl y que รฉl parece que estรก sucio de sangre.

La cara y rostro del hombre aparecen desesperados, รฉl estรก buscando la mirada de la mujer. Los colores expresan algo triste.

Aun otra persona comento que esta pintura es el momento antes del crimen. La mujer nos estรก pidiendo ayuda, una intervenciรณn. El hombre no nos mira ni la mira a ella por su culpabilidad. Lo rojo envuelve el hombre, es color es simbรณlico. 

Un participante comentรณ que, si la mujer estรก sentada, el hombre tiene que estar arrodillado. Asรญ que estรก pidiรฉndole perdรณn. 

Hablamos de como nosotros creamos estas historias basadas en nuestras experiencias, trabajo, y los prejuicios. Es difรญcil de cambiar la perspectiva, pero la medicina narrativa ayuda con esto.

Otra persona compartiรณ que la posiciรณn de las manos de la mujer es como si estuviera cargando un bebe que perdiรณ. Las manos del hombre son activas y las de la mujer de autoprotecciรณn. 

Escribimos con la propuesta: โ€œEscribe sobre estar cerca o lejosโ€. En nuestros textos se hablรณ de aprender a quererse otra vez; a tomar tiempo para el auto amor. Se escribiรณ del amor y la memoria y cรณmo funcionan juntas. Alguien escribiรณ un poema en la sombra de la pintura. Tambiรฉn se cuestionรณ como se mide la distancia. Come suele ser comรบn, escribimos en la sombra del texto.

Aquรญ, ahora alentamos a los participantes que, si asรญ lo desean, compartan lo que escribieron a continuaciรณn. Deja tu respuesta aquรญ, si deseas continuar la conversaciรณn sobre el cuadro de Oskar Kokoschka, Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze Conrat. Pero antes, les recomendamos tener en cuenta que el blog es un espacio pรบblico donde, por supuesto, no se garantiza la confidencialidad.

Por favor, รบnase a nosotros en nuestra prรณxima sesiรณn en espaรฑol: Elย sรกbado 10 de mayo a las 13 hrs. o a la 1 pm EDT. Tambiรฉn, ofrecemos sesiones en inglรฉs. Ve aย nuestra pรกgina deย sesiones grupales virtuales en vivo.

ยกEsperamos verte pronto!


Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze Conrat por Oskar Kokoschka

Credit: Oskar Kokoschka


Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT April 11th 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem When Giving Is All We Have” by Alberto Rรญos, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWe give because...โ€

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (โ€œLeave a Replyโ€), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if youโ€™re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Monday April 14th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

When Giving Is All We Have 
Alberto Rรญos 1952 โ€“
One river gives
Its journey to the next.

We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by itโ€”

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to giveโ€”together, we made

Something greater from the difference.


Copyright ยฉ 2014 by Alberto Rรญos. Used with permission of the author.

Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT April 9th 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we took a close look at the painting “Relatives” by Tidawhitney Lek, posted below.

Our prompt was:โ€œWrite about sharing a joke.โ€

More details will be posted on this session, so check back again!

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (โ€œLeave a Replyโ€), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if youโ€™re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Friday April 11th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Relatives by Tidawhitney Lek

Credit: Tidawhitney Lek


Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT April 4th 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we took a close look at a photo A Letter From My Father” by Duane Michals, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œStart with โ€œ The letter that never arrived...โ€

More details will be posted on this session, so check back again!

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (โ€œLeave a Replyโ€), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if youโ€™re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Wednesday April 9th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

A Letter From My Father by Duane Michals

ยฉ Duane Michals, Courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.