Listening to Ourselves Think about Family (Yarmouth) with Cory Lavender

This poetry-forward workshop aims to help writers of all kinds to tune in, at greater depth, to where their words come from. Our attentiveness can counter the denigration of the senses we are experiencing at a cultural level.

We’ll begin by considering how ‘sound’ constantly enters our ears, while ‘listening’ depends on how our brains responds. We tend to shut sounds out, especially in urban environments, but listening openly—to the whole spectrum—is key to compassion. This includes compassion for others, from family members to fictional characters, but also for ourselves. We listen to ourselves; the self speaks to the self. We can learn to listen to ourselves more deeply, especially as we prepare to write creatively.

Cory Lavender will speak about listening in his own life, its relation to family and his writing; will riff off of illuminating quotations from Susan Stewart, Pauline Oliveros, and Jean-Luc Nancy; and will read a few relevant poems. Participants will be given time to tune in and write out of the workshop experience, followed by a discussion.