You can support the podcast here

Tessa and Kate talked about:

• How poems can create the shared space; poems that are appropriate for and speak to who is there

• Poetry as a joining-in activity to be shared aloud as in the tradition of oral history, not like a pressed flower in a book

• The poem as a structure for people and children to organise their thoughts and even learn a language

• As a facilitator, she narrates the experience to support the momentum of writing: a series of cues of what they could try, reading parts of the poem again

• The adaptability of poetry circles from very small groups to large ones, in person and online

• How to create an encouraging environment by giving praise as they work, need to affirm their poetry because will tend towards being critical

• 90 minutes is a good amount of time to introduce the poem, have time for writing, then sharing

• Guidelines such as encouraging clapping are to help it be a positive experience – in groups not about an analytical approach but to ‘react to it like it’s a song.

• Kate will chose a line she thinks is really great from the poem as an introduction and if someone is shy and doesn’t want to read their poem, she will ask if it’s okay to read it for them

• She welcomes feelings to arise because they come when the person is ready to express them

• Important to give options for people to write about – she gives prompts that aren’t directly emotive, but often they will write something emotional from a light / general prompt e.g. food, something you remember

• A poem can feel like a safe space because it’s expressing something beautifully

• These poetry circles enable people to create their own safe spaces and get into a habit of expressing themselves

• Good sources of poems, other than Kate’s books of course, are ‘Being Alive’ and ‘Poetry Foundation’ and Tessa uses John O’Donohue’s ‘Benedictus’

You can find Kate at https://kateclanchy.com/ You can buy her book How to Grow Your Own Poem HERE

Get your free Start Your Circle Guide http://eepurl.com/iJH3pw

Our book Circle Holding: A Practical Guide to Facilitating Talking Circles is available HERE where you can also find a list of our favourite circle books and poetry

Or you can get 10% off the book through the publisher using code CIRCLEHPOD10 at checkout on this link only: https://uk.singingdragon.com/products/circle-holding

Find details of the next free mini training and Q&A here and all our upcoming trainings on the Training menu above.