'Ars poetica' refers to any poetry or prose that considers the art of poetry, especially poems that step outside of themselves to consider their own genesis and nature. Today, Sue’s poem 'Ocean' describes her creative process, and Deborah’s interleaving of two poems in 'Sanctus' is an example of poems that step outside of themselves. Lnks to ideas mentioned in the episode, as well as the printed works on a page with orignal artwork are in the show notes.

Tom is an emeritus poet laureate of Benicia in the SF Bay Area. Today, he's performing a ‘poemSong,’ part poem and part song, which incorporates musical sounds with words. Think of an abstract work of art and how you have to suspend disbelief and just let the words and sounds in, and see where it takes you. It's not as accessible as many of our other offerings, and that's part of the poetry journey across bridges, down hills to the edge of a great river, the Suisun Bay, Benicia and "Rivertown". The show notes include the written version of the poem, the prompt and more about Tom.

Last time we read Clare’s poem, “Deope,” for the river Deben in Suffolk, which opened questions about the importance of particular beloved places in connecting us to the natural world and building the foundation for stewardship. Today Deborah shares her poem “Dreaming With Gray Eagle Creek.” Our wide-ranging conversation after the reading touches on the allegory of rivers and spirit, of water flowing and changing as the river stays more constant and the comparison of water flowing, to music.

We introduce Clare Hedin, who is a singer, songwriter, and sound healer. We invited her to join us on a podcast after hearing her beautiful reading of Mary Oliver’s poem “The Journey” at our first open mic. Clare is also a visual artist and filmmaker who has created a body of gorgeous, small videos centered on place. Clare shares a conviction that a deep connection to nature, often arising from a particular place, is the bedrock of environmental stewardship. Here is a link to Clare's work, a link to her 'small videos centered on place'; and here is a link to her poem on the page for you to read.

In response to Teri's life's journey poem, Deborah shares the end of a journey of a mother and baby Orca based on the real story of Tahlequah, the mother carried her dead baby for 17 days. Then Sue shares a poem that describes accompanying her father during his last, hard days, also with an ocean allegory. The show notes have links to the pretty print versions of these poems with artwork, plus some information on items mentioned in the podcasts

Teri is a mover, shaker and beloved in the El Sobrante community. She wrote a poem with her son who died last year - the first she had ever written. We were so struck by it at our first poetry open mic we invited her on to the show. We hope you'll be as inspired by Teri as we are, with her insightful, sly and poignant poem that takes you along her unusual and inspiring life's journey. Here are the show notes with the poem and her community work. The prompt to send in, is "Life's Journey" of course :-).

Deborah and Sue continue a discussion of aging from a deeply personal perspective, this time based around Deborah's ekphrastic poem "Indietro". See our show notes for details and resources mentioned in the episode, as well as a prompt for you to write your own thoughts about aging.

Sue reads her poem "Shape of the Body" and Deborah and I talk about the challenges but also the satisfactions of aging, even in a society that prizes youth and looks. Our show notes link to resources mentioned in our conversation and to the prompt.