Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST January 28th 2022

This session we celebrated our 200th Virtual Group Session held in English since we first launched the sessions to connect and grow community virtually during difficult and isolated times. We are so amazed and honored at the community that has grown around these sessions, the new faces we continually get to meet, and the dedication and generosity of our facilitators in donating their time to keep these sessions active and open for all of us as we continue into 2022! Thank you to everyone who attended today, and to everyone joining us at any point to share in this virtual space!

For this session we sat with an untitled photographย by AJ Cincotta-Eichenfield, posted below.ย 

The prompt for this session was:ย โ€œWrite about taking a chance.โ€œ

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 sessionย Monday January 31st atย 6pm EST, ย with more times listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessionsย page.


Untitled by AJ Cincotta-Eichenfield

Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST January 26th 2022

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our this session!

For this session we watched a clip from the film Songs My Brothers Taught Me by Chloe Zhao (available on Amazon Prime, time-stamp 1:27:54 – 1:30:30).

The prompt for this session was: โ€œWhere we live, things usually look…โ€œ

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 January 28th at 12pm EST,  with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions page.


This is the trailer for the film, not the clip viewed in the session. The film is available on Amazon Prime, and the clip is time-stamp 1:27:54 – 1:30:30).

Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EST January 24th 2022

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our this session!

For this session we close-read the poemย The Snow Manย by Wallace Stevens, posted below.

The prompt for this session was:ย “In the wind…

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 sessionย Wednesday January 26th atย 12pm EST, ย with more times listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessionsย page.


The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST January 21st 2022

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our this session!

For this session we close-read the poemย January by Nancy Schoenberger, posted below.

The prompt for this session was: Write about what was or what will be.

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 sessionย Monday January 24th atย 6pm EST, ย with more times listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessionsย page.


January by Nancy Schoenberger

Two-faced god, looking fore and aft:
Do you really belong to past 
glories, boredoms, indignities?
Impossible to look forward to one's own death
so dwell on complaints, pleasures, disappointments.
Small things really: the taste of an apple  
from an orchard abandoned
thirty years earlier, when there were apples, 
there were trees, the disheveled orchard thrumming with yellow jackets.
ย 
But the January snow
has piled up, and even now 
the boggy  cottonwoods 
litter the hardened yard 
with detritus,
or rich harvest,
depending on your point of view, 
or diet.

You weep, Janus! Or is that laughter,
 though you have no daughters
in this, this baleful start 
to a new beginning,
a new life? You seem to be guarding 
something, brothers. One at each door.     
Is it the little secret of the new year:
ย 
that everything waiting for us up ahead       
will be exactly as it was before?

Live Virtual Group Session: 5PM EST January 18th 2022

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our this session!

For this session we close-read the graphic medicine pieceย Solidarityย byย Luis Manriquez and Simon Gentry, excerpted from COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology edited by Kendra Boileau and Rich Johnson. Piece posted below.

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

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 sessionย Friday January 21st atย 12pm EST, ย with more times listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessionsย page.


excerpted from COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology edited by Kendra Boileau and Rich Johnson
excerpted from COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology edited by Kendra Boileau and Rich Johnson

Encuentros virtuales en vivo: Sรกbado 15 de Enero, 13:00 EST

Nos acompaรฑaran nueve participantes desde Nueva York, Espaรฑa, Argentina, varios otros lugares.

El texto que escogimos para hoy fue โ€œEntre Irse y Quedarseโ€ por Octavio Paz. El poema se leyรณ dos veces y despuรฉs tuvimos un rico debate con diferentes interpretaciones del mensaje del poema.

Se notรณ que el poeta habla de dos tipos de tiempoโ€”todo lo que es objetivo (la duraciรณn del dรญa) y lo que es subjetivo (latir del tiempo que en mi sien repite la misma terca sรญlaba de sangre). Tambiรฉn hablamos sobre la โ€œpausaโ€ en que hemos vivido desde que empezรณ la pandemia. Hay una sensaciรณn de querer regresar al pasado; creemos que ese pasado nos espera. Pero el problema es que no podemos volver a ese pasado. Hay que vivir en el presente. Si nos modificamos por lo que hay una continuaciรณn de la vida. El poema nos muestra que hay que seguir el ritmo de la vida.

La propuesta de escritura fue โ€œEscribe sobre un tiempo de incertidumbreโ€. Las respuestas fueron variadas y en la sombra del texto. Alguien escribiรณ sobre la certeza que somos inciertos. Otro texto personal sobre la muerte; un cuento universal porque todos vivimos con la mayor certeza que eventualmente nos vamos a morir, pero aun hay tanta incertidumbre en la enfermedad. Otro texto tenรญa que ver con el cambio del cuerpo, con la aceptaciรณn del las nuevas limitaciones.

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 poema de Octavio Paz. 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 5 de febrero a las 13 hrs. o a la 1 pm EST (hora de Nueva York). Tambiรฉn, ofrecemos sesiones en inglรฉs. Ve a  nuestra pรกgina de sesiones grupales virtuales en vivo.

ยกEsperamos verte pronto!



Entre irse y quedarse por Octavio Paz


Entre irse y quedarse duda el dรญa,
enamorado de su transparencia.

La tarde circular es ya bahรญa:
en su quieto vaivรฉn se mece el mundo.

Todo es visible y todo es elusivo,
todo estรก cerca y todo es intocable.

Los papeles, el libro, el vaso, el lรกpiz
reposan a la sombra de sus nombres.

Latir del tiempo que en mi sien repite
la misma terca sรญlaba de sangre.

La luz hace del muro indiferente
un espectral teatro de reflejos.

En el centro de un ojo me descubro;
no me mira, me miro en su mirada.

Se disipa el instante. Sin moverme,
yo me quedo y me voy: soy una pausa.


Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST January 14th 2022

Happy Thank you to everyone who joined us for our this session!

For this session we close-read the poemย Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15)ย byย Lawrence Ferlinghetti, posted below.

Our prompt for this session was:ย โ€œWrite about a highwire of your own making.โ€ย 

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

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 sessionย Tuesday January 18th atย 5pm EST, ย with more times listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessionsย page.


Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15)ย byย Lawrence Ferlinghetti


Constantly risking absurdity
                                             and death
            whenever he performs
                                        above the heads
                                                            of his audience
   the poet like an acrobat
                                 climbs on rime
                                          to a high wire of his own making
and balancing on eyebeams
                                     above a sea of faces
             paces his way
                               to the other side of day
    performing entrechats
                               and sleight-of-foot tricks
and other high theatrics
                               and all without mistaking
                     any thing
                               for what it may not be

       For he's the super realist
                                     who must perforce perceive
                   taut truth
                                 before the taking of each stance or step
in his supposed advance
                                  toward that still higher perch
where Beauty stands and waits
                                     with gravity
                                                to start her death-defying leap

      And he
             a little charleychaplin man
                                           who may or may not catch
               her fair eternal form
                                     spreadeagled in the empty air
                  of existence

Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EST January 10th 2022

Happy New Year, and thank you to everyone who rejoined us for our first session of 2022!

For this session we close-read the poemย New Day’s Lyricย byย Amanda Gorman, posted below.

Our prompt for this session was:ย โ€œWrite about mending.โ€ย 

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

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 sessionย Friday January 14th atย 12pm EST, ย with more times listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessionsย page.

New Day's Lyricย byย Amanda Gorman

May this be the day
We come together.
Mourning, we come to mend,
Withered, we come to weather,
Torn, we come to tend,
Battered, we come to better.
Tethered by this year of yearning,
We are learning
That though we werenโ€™t ready for this,
We have been readied by it.
We steadily vow that no matter
How we are weighed down,
We must always pave a way forward.

This hope is our door, our portal.
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.

What was cursed, we will cure.
What was plagued, we will prove pure.
Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,
Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,
Where we werenโ€™t aware, weโ€™re now awake;
Those moments we missed
Are now these moments we make,
The moments we meet,
And our hearts, once all together beaten,
Now all together beat.

Come, look up with kindness yet,
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.

We heed this old spirit,
In a new dayโ€™s lyric,
In our hearts, we hear it:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
Be bold, sang Time this year,
Be bold, sang Time,
For when you honor yesterday,
Tomorrow ye will find.
Know what weโ€™ve fought
Need not be forgot nor for none.
It defines us, binds us as one,
Come over, join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.

Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EST December 20th 2021

Thank you to everyone who joined for this session!

For this session we close-read the poemย Winter Solsticeย byย Hilda Morley, posted below.

Our prompt for this session was:ย โ€œWrite about something that crossed your path.โ€ย 

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

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!

This will be our last virtual group session of 2021! We will be taking a holiday break to give our volunteer facilitators time off for celebration, rest and time with family. Please join us for our next sessionย on January 10th, 2022ย at 6pm EST, with more times to be listed on ourย Live Virtual Group Sessionsย page.


Winter Solstice by Hilda Morley

A cold night crosses
our path
                  The world appears
very large, very
round now       extending
far as the moon does
                                        It is from
the moon this cold travels
                                        It is
the light of the moon that causes
this night reflecting distance in its own
light so coldly
                                          (from one side of
the earth to the other)
                                        It is the length of this coldness
It is the long distance
between two points which are
not in a line        now
                                       not a
straightness       (however
straight) but a curve only,
silver that is a rock reflecting
                                                      not metal
but a rock accepting
distance
                     (a scream in silence
where between the two
points what touches
is a curve around the world
                                                      (the dance unmoving).

Encuentros virtuales en vivo: Sรกbado 18 de Deciembre, 13:00 EST (18:00 UTC)

Nos acompaรฑaran ocho participantes desde Nueva York, Espaรฑa, Argentina, California, y Italia.

El texto elegido fue Gracias a la Vida de la poeta Chilena Violeta Parra. El poema/canciรณn se leyรณ dos veces y despuรฉs vimos el video de Violeta Parra cantando la canciรณn.

Una participante notรณ que el poema es un poema existencial y amoroso, las estrofas se refieren, โ€œal hombre que amoโ€. Todas las estrofas terminan con lo que la poeta hace para estar mรกs cercana de su amadoโ€”la ayudan a ver, escuchar, sentir etc. a su amado. Aรบn al final del poema estรก ese otro. Se notรณ que la รบltima estrofa es mรกs universal, no singulariza al amado.

Otra persona mencionรณ que este poema es apropiado en este tiempo de la pandemia. El amado puede ser un familiar o una amistad, y cuando por fin pudimos salir de nuestras casas, apreciamos las cosas pequeรฑas como grillos, pรกjaros, etc. Y las dos รบltimas lรญneas son muy bonitas y ciertas, la relaciรณn entre autor y lector. Aun otra participante notรณ que la vida nos ha dado a todos.

Un participante mencionรณ que esta canciรณn nos impacta tanto porque todos somos humanos. Otra persona refiriรณ que, en el periodo de COVID, es un poema de agradecimiento; es tan importante ahora porque hay que ser consciente del prรณjimo. Alguien mรกs dijo que cuando uno estรก enfermo, se le quita โ€œla anestesiaโ€ de la vida y uno se recuerda lo que mรกs le importaโ€”la familia, las amistades, la naturaleza.

Otra persona le impactรณ el video de Violeta cantando la canciรณn. ยฟCuรกl va a ser el video de nuestra vida? ยฟCuรกles son las fotos que van a encajar nuestra vida? Esto le recordรณ a otra persona que Violeta se quitรณ su propia vida pronto despuรฉs de escribir esta canciรณn.

La propuesta de escritura fue โ€œGracias a vidaโ€ฆโ€ Un participante escribiรณ sobre todo lo que no tiene (enfermedad, hambre, etc.) y compartiรณ un cuento sobre dรกndole gracias a Dios en vez de pedirle a Dios. Otra escribiรณ un poema como defensa a la vida, como una afirmaciรณn. Otro escribiรณ sobre sus recuerdos. Y otra escribiรณ sobre la enfermedad que le ha visitado, de la aceptaciรณn y el impacto de este texto. Disfrutamos muchรญsimo al escuchar lo que habรญan escrito los participantes. Se pasรณ el tiempo demasiado de ligero.

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 poema de Claribel Alegrรญa. 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 15 de enero a las 13 hrs. o a la 1 pm EST (hora de Nueva York). Tambiรฉn, ofrecemos sesiones en inglรฉs. Ve aย  nuestra pรกgina de sesiones grupales virtuales en vivo.

ยกEsperamos verte pronto!


Gracias a La Vida por Violeta Parra

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
Me diรณ dos luceros que, cuando los abro,
perfecto distingo lo negro del blanco,
y en el alto cielo su fondo estrellado,
y en las multitudes el hombre que yo amo.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado el oรญdo, que en todo su ancho
graba noche y dรญa; grillos y canarios.
martillos, turbinas, chubascos
y la voz tan tierna de mi enamorado.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado el sonido y el abecedario,
con รฉl las palabras que pienso y declaro:
madre, amigo, hermano y luz, alumbrando
la ruta del alma del que estoy amando.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado la marcha de mis pies cansados;
con ellos anduve ciudades y charcos,
playas y desiertos, montaรฑas y llanos,
y la casa tuya, tu calle y tu patio.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
Me diรณ el corazรณn, que agita su marco
cuando miro el fruto del cerebro humano,
cuando miro el bueno tan lejos del malo,
cuando miro el fondo de tus ojos claros.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado la risa y me ha dado el llanto;
asรญ yo distingo dicha de quebranto,
los dos materiales que forman mi canto
y el canto de ustedes, que es el mismo canto,
y el canto de todos, que es mi propio canto.