Into the Heart of Poetry:
Writing, Hearing, and Speaking Poems
with Ellen Bass & Kim Rosen
Mayacamas Ranch, Calistoga, CA
October 14-19, 2012
I didn't trust it for a moment
but I drank it anyway,
the wine of my own poetry.
It gave me the daring to take hold
of the darkness and tear it down
and cut it into little pieces.
–Lala, a 14th century Persian poet
Join Ellen Bass and Kim Rosen for five-days of living poetry. In this unique retreat, we will explore a combination of three elements: the inspiration of hearing poetry, the power of speaking poetry, and the craft of writing poetry.
Hearing Poetry
Since the dawn of time, mystics, poets, and shamans have known that the rhythm, sound and meaning of spoken poetry can open the mind to creative inspiration. During this retreat, we will steep in periods of deep listening to poems from around the world interwoven with music in order to tap into the alchemical gifts of poetic language.
Speaking Poetry
When you take a poem you love deeply into your life and speak it aloud, amazing things happen. Your thoughts, feelings, and even your biochemistry are changed--as is the mind, heart, and body of the listener. In our time together you will learn how to take a poem into your life as a teacher and healer and free your voice to give it embodiment in a way no one else can.
Writing Poetry
This retreat is oriented toward generating new poems. To help enrich and extend your skills, there will be talks on specific aspects of the craft using model poems by contemporary poets. There will also be time to share our new poems and hear what they touch in others, as well as opportunities to receive feedback and guidance.
In addition there will be periods of movement, music, silence and immersion in the extreme beauty of Mayacamas Ranch with its hidden lake, salt water swimming pool, Jacuzzi, and miles of hiking trails through chaparral, fragrant bay and madrone forests.
Who should attend:
This workshop is equally appropriate for beginning and experienced poets, from those who are new to poetry to those who have published books or chapbooks. We also recommend this workshop for teachers who could use a shot of inspiration and would like to be introduced to new methods, as well as all people who work in the helping and healing professions who would like to explore another way to reach the heart. Though we'll focus on poetry, prose writers who want to be inspired by poetry and to enrich their language will find it a fertile environment.
Set on a hilltop ridgeline above the town of Calistoga in Napa, CA and surrounded by spectacular 360-degree views, Mayacamas Ranch provides an awe-inspiring, natural setting.
With its secluded and expansive grounds, comfortable guestrooms, organic based cuisine from their garden, Mayacamas is a stunning, secluded retreat center.
Mayacamas Ranch has guest units and cottages situated in various buildings on the property. All beds at Mayacamas are 100% organic and feature organic sheets in all rooms.
There is also a heated salt-water pool and hot tub, hiking trails and a spring-fed lake. If a trip to Italy isn’t on your calendar this year (or even if it is), come to Mayacamas Ranch!
To see more of Mayacamas Ranch, visit www.mayacamasranch.com.
Costs and registration:
The fees are all-inclusive, including the workshop, lodging, and all meals. The workshop begins with dinner on Sunday night and ends with lunch on Friday. Double occupancy is $1650. Single occupancy is $2525. If you're registering with a friend and want to room together, just let us know.
The size of the workshop is limited to 28 participants and registration is on a first-come basis.
A $500 deposit is required to hold your place. To register, please email Kim Rosen at or Ellen Bass at . Then make your check payable to Ellen Bass and mail to Shalom Victor (Ellen's assistant), at 338 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95060. The balance is due August 1.
If you need to arrange a payment plan, just let us know. We're flexible and we'll do our best to accommodate your needs.
If you'd like to pay by paypal, please email Kim, , and she'll give you the information you need.
If you find that you cannot attend the workshop, let us know as soon as possible and we'll try to fill your space with someone from the waiting list. If we or you can fill your space, we'll refund your payment, minus $150 administrative fee.
Getting there:
Mayacamas Ranch is about an hour and a half north of the Golden Gate Bridge. If you're driving or need a ride, carpooling can be arranged from the San Francisco bay area or for folks arriving at SF airport.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email Kim Rosen at or Ellen Bass at .
We hope you can join us!
Ellen Bass's most recent book of poetry, The Human Line, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2007 and was named a Notable Book of 2007 by the San Francisco Chronicle. She co-edited (with Florence Howe) the groundbreaking No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women (1973) and has published several volumes of poetry, including Mules of Love (BOA, 2002) which won the Lambda Literary Award. Her work has been published in The Atlantic, The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Field, and The Kenyon Review. Among her awards for poetry are a Pushcart Prize, the Elliston Book Award, The Pablo Neruda Prize, the Larry Levis Prize from Missouri Review, and the New Letters Prize. Her nonfiction books include Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth and Their Allies (HarperCollins, 1996), and The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (HarperCollins, 1988, 2008). She teaches in the MFA writing program at Pacific University and at conferences and workshops nationally and internationally.
Kim Rosen, MFA, has touched listeners around the world with poetry’s power to awaken, inspire and heal. She is the author of Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words (Hay House, 2009) and the co-creator of four CDs of spoken poetry and music, including Only Breath , an interweaving of spoken poems of ancient and modern poets with the music of cellist/composer Jami Sieber. A recipient of the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize for Poetry, her work has been published in O Magazine, The Sun Magazine, Central Park, The Dickens, Eclipse and The Texas Review among others. Combining her devotion to poetry with her background as a spiritual teacher and therapist, she gives “Poetry Concerts”, inspirational lectures, and workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Read more about Kim Rosen in The Sun Magazine and other media. Kim is interviewed by Alison Luterman in The Sun here.
Check out www.ellenbass.com and www.kimrosen.net for more information.
"There I learned that poetry is an act, an incantation, a kiss of peace, a medicine. I learned that poetry is one of the rare, very rare things in the world which can prevail over cold and hatred. . . . A medicine, neither more nor less. An element which, communicated to the human organism, modified the vital circulation, making it slower, or more rapid. It was, in short, something whose effects were as concrete as those of a chemical substance, I was convinced of this." – from "Poetry in Buchenwald" by Jaques Lusseyran
