University of Toronto's Poet in Community

A Blessing for a (Future) Nurse’s Hands

October 4, 2013 · No Comments

A Blessing for a (Future) Nurse’s Hands

May your hands first and foremost always be clean.
May they be steady enough to landmark an injection.
May they be strong enough to hold someone up.
May they be gentle enough to comfort and heal.

Maria-Rosa Laneve

Maria-Rosa Laneve is a first year nursing student. This poem was written in the first workshop of the season held in September in the department of nursing.

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Tracking the Threads of What You Love

September 16, 2013 · No Comments

Tracking the Threads of What You Love

(Or, where heart meets school, life, and career all in one workshop)

In this workshop, begin to track your passions, hobbies and curiosities; the music, relationships, and even foods that attract and sustain you. Could these experiences provide grounding for your academic work, your life balance, and your career paths? Using poems and questions to spark short writing exercises, illuminate the resources you carry that may also carry you forward into the future.

No special writing experience necessary.

Thursday, October 10th | Noon – 1:30 pm

Open to all current students at the University of Toronto

Register : http://uoft.me/poet

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Meet The Presses

June 9, 2013 · No Comments

Meet The Presses

Monday June 10th
7PM-10PM
The Supermarket
268 Augusta
Kensington Market

Small Press Variety Show!
FREE

Each publishing house gets five minutes to strut their stuff in song, dance or whatever form they like. On behalf of Pedlar Press, I will bring the Spontaneous Poetry Booth to the stage.One volunteer. One poem.

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Lorcation

May 13, 2013 · No Comments

Unprecedented: A summer event for those in need of poetry!

 

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The Spontaneous Poetry Booth

March 26, 2013 · No Comments

On Wednesday the 27th, I will write you a poem for a dollar!  

The Spontaneous Poetry Booth will be at Mount Sinai Hospital
600 University Avenue, south of College
(in the cafeteria)
Noon to One-thirty PM  

Everybody welcome.

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A new series starts March 6, 2013 –– A Writer’s Process: The Scribe, The Scribbler, and The Scrabble Board

February 24, 2013 · No Comments

A Writer’s Process: The Scribe, The Scribbler, and The Scrabble Board

Who is the speaker in the stories or poems you write, and where do the words come from? The sources of writing can be academic, personal, social, physical, political and often mysterious. Your material is everywhere: the letters on the scrabble board, what you ate for breakfast, your neighbour’s voice. In this series, you are invited to three sessions of writing experiments and conversations with the scribe, the speaker, and the sources of your expression.

 

March 6, 13, 20, 2013

Wednesdays, Noon-1:30PM

Hart House

(Ask at Hub for room location)

Register here: http://uoft.me/poet

 

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On February 13: Finding a Trusting Spirit

February 12, 2013 · No Comments

Finding a Trusting Spirit: a writing workshop for graduate students at U of T

What part of your spirit never goes to work, gets edited out, or left at home? How do you find words, experiences, human and material supports to invite your whole self to your day? This workshop explores the meeting place of your humanity and your professional self at U of T, the risks and costs, needs and desires. Through writing exercises, explore the possibility of finding a trusting spirit at the cusp of work and heart. No writing experience necessary.

Open to Graduate Students at the University of Toronto

Wednesday February 13, 2013

12:30-2PM

Presented by the School of Graduate Studies with Equity Offices at the University of Toronto

For more information and registration: http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/gradroom/equityspeaker.htm

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Today: The Last Leap of January!

January 31, 2013 · No Comments

“Fear and Leaping” happens at noon today at the Multi-Faith Centre.
One more hour to write about relationships. Then you’re on your own!

For more information and to register: http://uoft.me/poet

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Fear and Leaping

January 25, 2013 · No Comments

The last session of the series Leaps and Boundaries: Navigating Relationships happens Thursday January 31st from Noon-1Pm at the Multi-Faith Centre.

Whether or not you’ve ever attended a workshop, you’re welcome to come. You don’t need to be a “poet” either, you only need to want to explore through writing.

How do you navigate being involved in your life? Whether your involvement is with a partner, a family member, a community, or a passion: how do you engage while setting boundaries? Using poems as starting points, this series of writing workshops will navigate the sometimes wild ride of our daily interactions, the necessary leaps and limits.

Session 1. Showing Up

Session 2. What if you can’t say no? (or, The Underbelly of Yes)

Session 3. Fear and Leaping

January 17, 24, 31, 2013

Thursdays, Noon-1PM

Multi-Faith Centre

Please register @ http://uoft.me/poet

 

 

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Protest at College Park: What Kind of Problem?

January 16, 2013 · No Comments

At 1:30pm today a group was gathered in College Park as I was walking past, and a frill of policemen in yellow stood around. I asked the story, and a tall one quipped: “an old real estate problem.” It took a flicker for me to say “is this an aboriginal protest?” I walked away, down to where they were pounding and singing, and I stood there.

But it made me so mad what he had said that I went back to tell him, who apologized, but only because he knew he should, not because he felt it. And I wish I’d asked: if the Nazis’ stealing gold from the teeth of Jews was an old dental problem; or the slave trade an old question of changing property values. I wish I could have reached up and punched him in his tall, white, handsome face so far removed from retribution that reproach was only a word from his boss. When he said he didn’t mean to be dismissive, I said it was to me, and if there were more like me perhaps he could consider. He was polite. Which he could afford to be. And so was I.

Ronna Bloom

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