Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT July 12th 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem Before” by Ada Limรณn, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite about a time before.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 July 19th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Before by Ada Limรณn

No shoes and a glossy
red helmet, I rode
on the back of my dadโ€™s
Harley at seven years old.
Before the divorce.
Before the new apartment.
Before the new marriage.
Before the apple tree.
Before the ceramics in the garbage.
Before the dogโ€™s chain.
Before the koi were all eaten
by the crane. Before the road
between us, there was the road
beneath us, and I was just
big enough not to let go:
Henno Road, creek just below,
rough wind, chicken legs,
and I never knew survival
was like that. If you live,
you look back and beg
for it again, the hazardous
bliss before you know
what you would miss.

Copyright ยฉ 2015 by Ada Limรณn. Used with permission of the author.

Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT June 24th 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem The Youngย ” by Roddy Lumsden, posted below.

Our prompt was:ย โ€œWrite about being young.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 July 12th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

"The Youngย " by Roddy Lumsden

You bastards! Itโ€™s all sherbet, and follyย ย ย 
makes you laugh like mules. Chancesย ย ย 
dance off your wrists, each day ready,

sprites in your bones and spite not yetย ย ย 
swollen, not yet set. You gather handfulย ย ย 
after miracle handful, seeing straight,

reaching the lighthouse in record time,ย ย ย 
pockets brim with scimitar things. Nowย ย ย 
is not a pinpoint but a sprawling realm.

Bewilderment and thrill are whip-quickย ย ย 
twins, carried on your backs, each vowย ย ย 
new to touch and each mistake a broken

biscuit. I was you. Sea robber boardingย ย ย 
the won galleon. Roaring trees. Machinesย ย ย 
without levers, easy in bowel and lung.

One cartwheel over the quicksand curveย ย ย 
of Tuesday to Tuesday and youโ€™re gone,ย ย ย 
summering, a ship on the farthest wave.

Credit:ย Poetryย (December 2008)

Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT June 21st 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem Against Distance” by Trey Moody, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite about being one and many.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 Monday June 24th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Against Distance by Trey Moody

I donโ€™t know who needs to hear this

other than me, but the moon will never leave

you, you are good enough for the moon

and the moon is good enough for you,

because you are here and the moon is there

every time the moon is supposed to be

there, and isnโ€™t it interesting when we want

to show up for each other we say we are

counting on it and what else but numbers

teach us we are each one, and what else

but the moon teaches us we are each many,

so when you try counting โ€Šyour remaining

moments with the moon, the moon

that will never, ever leave you, give up.

Even the moon inches a little more distant

every year. Iโ€™ve heard grief is only love

with nowhere to go. But then you look up.

Credit:ย Poetryย (May 2024)


Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT June 3rd 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session took a close look at a self-portrait painting by Filippo Balbi, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œIn my head...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 June 21st at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.


Self-portrait painting by Filippo Balbi

Credit: Filippo Balbi


Encuentros virtuales en vivo: Sรกbado 1 de junio, 13:00 EDT

Nos reunimos 7 personas desde Nueva York, California, Espaรฑa, Chile, y Argentina. Leรญmos el cuento Volver, del libro de las Ex-Cusas (2018), Antonio Gonzรกlez Croissier.

Un participante mencionรณ la palabra que mรกs se repite es โ€œvolverโ€. Para volver hay que salir. Aunque parece que uno va para adelante, la vida es una recta. Volver es siempre una entrada, aunque llega la muerta. La metรกfora de las hojas calendase al piso. Ahรญ se mueren. El tiempo pasa y cambia todo. De poquito uno cambia hasta que uno ya no estรก.

Otra persona le gusto la contradicciรณn en el texto. La duda del autor o protagonista al regresar a lugares del pasado. Se los dejas al leyente.

Para otra participante el texto no es de envejecer per de tomar decisiones en nuestras vidas. Se menciona que la caja negra es donde uno tiene nuestros secretos. Es dejarla atrรกs. Buscar a nuestros seres queridos, a los lugares del pasado.

El autor es bastante optimista al frente tanta oscuridad. Un abrazo, el calor de una chimenea. Es una receta para el mundo que estaos en guerra.

A otra persona le recuerda cuando alguien ha estado afuera un gran tiempo y regresa y nunca es como una pensaba.

Los textos se leen con nuestras experiencias y para otra persona lo mรกs importante es el descubrir a lo que ya dejaste. Las cosas han cambiado. Uno no es el mismo y el lugar no es el mismo.

Es un texto rico con mรบltiples perspectivas y miradas que abordar.

La propuesta de escritura que usamos fue: Escribe sobre un regreso. Los textos fueron construidos en la sombra del texto. Se escribiรณ de regresos a lugares, mascotas, experiencias, nosotros mismos, y hasta el cielo.

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. 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: El sรกbado julio a las 20 hrs. o a la 1 pm EDT. Tambiรฉn, ofrecemos sesiones en inglรฉs. Ve a nuestra pรกgina de sesiones grupales virtuales.

ยกEsperamos verte pronto!


Volver. El libro de las Ex-Cusas (2018) por Antonio Gonzรกlez Croissier

Volver es siempre una salida, una calle ancha por la que asoma el reloj del viejo campanario o la fuente de la plaza. Atrรกs quedan los lugares desconocidos y las miradas extraรฑas.
Volver es como bajar del invierno mientras las manos juegan con el calor en los bolsillos, como ser hoja y despeรฑarse con esa forma tan poรฉtica que tienen de alcanzar el suelo.
Volver es envejecer, dar la vuelta, rendirse, dejar la vida a un lado, cerrar la caja negra de la existencia, tirar la llave y arrastrar lo que pudo haber sido.
O quizรก no, quizรก volver es buscar un abrazo, una chimenea encendida, una mirada cรณmplice al otro lado de cualquier cosa, una conversaciรณn sencilla sobre la รบltima cosecha o lo mal que nos sienta el cafรฉ de la noche.
ยฟVolver?ยฟSe puede volver acaso? Cuando la campana ya no suena como lo hacรญa y el agua de la plaza no burbujea como antes.
ยฟAcaso se puede volver cuando el que regresa ya no es el mismo?

Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT May 20th 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we took a close look at the music video The Great Escape” by Patrick Watson, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite about an escape.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 Monday June 3rd at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

The Great Escape” by Patrick Watson


Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT May 17th 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Who Says the Eye Loves Symmetry” by Patrick Rosal, posted below.

Our prompt was:ย โ€œWriteย about the beauty within asymmetry.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 Monday May 20th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessions.

"Who Says the Eye Loves Symmetry" by Patrick Rosal

Doesnโ€™t the eye love the ragged
tear of sky the treetop-shred
horizon The eyeโ€” after allโ€”
loves the dizzy
dip of a road: its precarious
tilt towards a ravine
only wrist-deep water
and giant smooth rocks to break
the skyโ€™s fall The eye
loves the bit peach window agape
buildings caught mid-swagger across a skyline
The eye loves unpainted pickets
cracked planks the harlequin the prow
poked out of water
like a chin loves
the evergreen arched over a flood
like an old man looking into the street
for a hand loves a sawed link chewed
rope a birchโ€™s slants But
the eye canโ€™t
love what it canโ€™t
see: the woman
striding tired and brave amid the lobbyโ€™s bustle
and under her shirt
a single breast
For Maureen Clyne

Patrick Rosal
Who Says the Eye Loves Symmetry is reprinted from Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive (Persea Books, 2003) and originally appeared in Uncommon Denominators (Palanquin Press, 2000).
Poem, copyright ยฉ 2000 by Patrick Rosal
Appearing on From the Fishouse with permission
Audio file, copyright ยฉ 2005, From the Fishouse

Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT May 10th 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read an excerpt from the novel The Ceremony p. 91-92 ” by Leslie Marmon Silko, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite about being seen from the outside.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 May 17th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

The Ceremony p. 91-92 by Leslie Marmon Silko

She sat with the sheets pulled around her and watched him get dressed. โ€œI have been
watching you for a long time,โ€ she said. โ€œI saw the color of your eyes.โ€

Tayo did not look at her.

โ€œMexican eyes,โ€ he said, โ€œthe other kids used to tease me.โ€

The rain was only a faint sound on the roof, and the sound of the thunder was distant, and
moving east. Tayo unbolted the door and opened it; he watched the rainwater pour out of the
rain gutter over the side of the long porch. โ€œI always wished I had dark eyes like other
people. When they look at me they remember things that happened. My Mother. His throat
felt tight. He had not talked about this before with anyone.

She shook her head slowly. โ€œThey are afraid, Tayo. They feel something happening, they
can see something happening around them, and it scares them. Indians or Mexicans or
whites โ€“ most people are afraid of change. They think that if their children have the same
color of skin, the same color of eyes, that nothing is changing.โ€ She laughed slowly. โ€œThey
are fools. They blame us, the one who look different. That way they donโ€™t have to think
about what has happened inside themselves.โ€

Credit: Leslie Marmon Silko

Encuentros virtuales en vivo: Sรกbado 4 de mayo, 13:00 EDT

El texto que escogimos para hoy fue ‘Dusk Bloom’ (Florecer al anochecer) por Tamara Dean.”

La propuesta de escritura fue Escribe sobre un momento de florecimiento.”

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. 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: El sรกbado 1 junio a las 13 hrs. o a la 1 pm EDT. Tambiรฉn, ofrecemos sesiones en inglรฉs. Ve a nuestra pรกgina de sesiones grupales virtuales.


Dusk Bloom (Florecer al anochecer) por Tamara Dean


Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT May 3rd 2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Statement of Teaching Philosophy” by Keith Leonard, posted below.

Our prompt was: โ€œWrite about when words fail.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 May 10th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy by Keith Leonard

My students want certainty. They want it
so badly. They respect science and have memorized
complex formulas. I donโ€™t know
how to tell my students their parents
are still just as scared. The bullies get bigger
and vaguer and you cannot punch a cloud.
I have eulogies for all my loved ones prepared,
but cannot include this fact in my lesson plans.
The best teacher I ever had told me to meet him
at the basketball court. We played pick-up for hours.
By the end, I lay panting on the hardwood
and couldnโ€™t so much as stand.
He told me to describe the pain in my chest.
I tried. I couldnโ€™t find the words. Not exactly.
Listen, he said, thatโ€™s where language ends.

Credit: Keith Leonard. Waxwing literary journal

Rita Basuray prompt response: