Testimonials

Your workshop was deep and I wanted to explore more of the method that I learned with you, but I don’t live in SD anymore. I am still hopeful I can learn it. I never forgot the words you told me about the keen sensitivity some people have around life and poetry, how that can be a healing factor, that poetry can heal trauma, the way you were doing that with inmate girls, and your advice about how hard the poetry industry is for sensitive people… Do you offer courses online? I’m really busy (working and studying online) but I don’t want to leave my poetry behind anymore.

Jim Moreno is a gifted poet who has the ability to bring out the best in his students. He inspires with his sincerity, commitment to the art and his encouragement. Jim’s workshops present opportunities to explore various poetry genres and to get acquainted with poets from varying backgrounds. He is certainly my poetry guru. 

Through a wide range of methods and mediums, Jim Moreno creates an island of exploration, an oasis of safety, an invisible thread of flowing wordsong where we know, where we feel, where we see we belong. From that quiet confidential space, Jim invites us to write, to discover a place beyond our shadows into a new world. With poets and poetry, Jim takes out the critic and invites in the grace. And I leave every class with a deeper truth.

 Jim has a unique way of teaching. He pays attention not only to one’e craft but to one’s person and spirit. He encourages while being directive, and is supportive while being instructive. He has the ability to critique in a way that inspires self-confidence and never elicits shame. Jim writes beautifully himself and freely shares his experience and hope. I have benefited from Jim’s guidance and highly recommend his offerings.

Executive Director
San Diego Writers, Ink

Jim Moreno has been teaching for San Diego Writers, Ink for years. His courses are always top quality and his students are “repeat offenders”—coming back again and again for his nurturing, informative approach. Any poet would be well served by attending one of Jim’s online sessions.

Poet

“Jim Moreno’s poetry workshops are creative safe spaces:  he sets that important tone at the beginning.  From his ‘Stanza Bonanza’ class to his celebration of LGBTQ poetry workshop, you are a student in the zone of a happy and enthusiastic educator.  You and your writing are sacred in his presence.  I am most impressed by Jim’s sincerity and devotion to the craft of poetry.  He knows the act of writing can change a life.” 

 Jim has a unique way of making me feel positive about my writing. He makes all his students feel successful after each writing and reading assignment. I fly to San Diego to write in Jim’s safe and sacred class. What I like about Jim’s classes is the way he prepares readings from ethnically diverse authors, and creates writing prompts that connect the pen to the hand and heart. He inspires the students to write and not think. I find the words come onto the blank page effortlessly. The safe space Jim creates for writing gives me the opportunity to reach deeply into my skin and bones and write truth. I appreciate Jim’s presence and depth. Jim has helped me build my self-confidence in writing. I always feel valued as a human being and NEVER judged or criticized. Jim is a fabulous teacher and poet in my estimation. 

    Jim Moreno is such a wise and generous writing teacher. He brings his knowledge and gifts to each workshop — researching poems and poets to share, and music to accompany writing time. And he comes up with great prompts. Best of all he creates a safe and welcoming environment, one that encourages both new and experienced writers. He invites each of us to explore and participate, to write our way into discovering something new, perhaps surprising ourselves with what we write. No one is forced to read, but those who do are always witnessed with careful listening and respect.

      Jim is a natural teacher and it is easy to see that he loves what he does . It shows in his amazingly rich research and his personal experience of the subject matter. I never thought that I would be able to write poetry “on command” in a workshop but you are not commanded to write. So I found myself writing prolifically and authentically much to my surprise. Sometimes I wrote two poems in a set! Jim’s classes have been a great respite and an energy enhancing experience for me.