Sunday, March 17, 2019
Last year at this time Jim Moreno was putting together his first National Women’s Herstory Poetry workshop. He was researching quotes and poetry of women whose leadership in this country made the difference between protecting women’s sovereign rights and the loss of personal dignity and freedoms. Authors and leaders like Janette Rankin, Sojourner Truth, Mary Oliver, Arundhati Roy, Lucille Clifton, Emily Dickinson, Joy Harjo, and other ink alchemists were honored in last years workshop.
This year Moreno continues to honor the past, including growing up in a house full of women: his mother and two sisters. “It was a house of stories, remembers Moreno, at each meal, riding to church on Sundays, driving to the countryside to purchase fresh vegetables for the week ahead, listening to social justice songs on the radio or stereo. Those songs all told stories too. I’m strong in storytelling because of the house I grew up in. My narrative poems reflect the wisdom of my mother and my two older sisters. My dad was out of the picture by the time I was three months old. I didn’t see him again until I was 33. My values as a man have been strongly influenced by the values of my mom and sisters.
Join Jim Moreno in this poetry celebration of the contributions to the the cultures of democracy and fairness in these United States by women. You’ll don the literary garments of story and verse. You’ll be grounded in personal anecdotes about writing and life by Jim. He will blend poems, video clips, and writing prompts of women who have had an ease in dancing with their Muse, as well as transforming the lives of their readers with their gift of pen. I’ve chosen women who model the strongest examples of “First Thought, Best Thought”as they were composing, revising, and reading, reflected Moreno, It doesn’t matter if you are a beginning or seasoned poet. You’ll come away from this workshop with poetry that validates your persona as a bona fide griot or bard, i.e. a storyteller, added Moreno.