Each month, we do a “mini workshop” before the virtual open mic. The Lehigh Valley Poetry Virtual Salon and Open Mic happens on the first Monday of the month, 8:00 EST for the mini workshop, and 8:30 PM EST for the open mic.
The mini workshop is usually a short prompt, exercise, or exploration of a technique with a few minutes to experiment, followed by voluntary quick shares. Thirty minutes is not very long, the intention is to share a quick exercise to keep us writing, trying new things, and challenging ourselves. Facilitated by E. Lynn Alexander, host of the LVP Salon.
This month’s inspiration: I was fortunate this week, as I was able to participate in a workshop with Philadelphia Poet Laureate Trapeta Mayson, who led us in some exercises exploring identity and voice, even creating collaborative poetry. If you aren’t familiar, check her website out. (here)
I was intrigued by a pretty cool program that she developed, a hotline number that provides the caller with poetry and the ability to connect with mental health resources- “Healing Verse”. (Find out more)
This was the inspiration for this month’s mini workshop prompt: Pretend that you have a hotline that receives calls, and you need to record a short message or poem. You want to share something that is inspirational, positive, affirming, healing, caring. Imagine this pretend listener, on the other end. What would they hear?
This could be a poem, but it doesn’t need to be. It could be a creative message, quick story, funny anecdote, something that you saw, something inspirational, a few lines. The challenge here is to try to work with the parameters of an emotional directive- even if you aren’t feeling very hopeful or inspired or write from this perspective. The challenge is that you need to push yourself to step into a different place.
