As writers, how do we capture a unique and expansive notion of “home?” It is often a complicated relationship, sometimes tender and nostalgic, and other times wrought with pain and longing. Poems of place offer the reader literal, symbolic, and psychological maps for how we make meaning of the world and our place in it. Join former Tacoma Poet Laureate Kellie Richardson to look at and practice writing place and home. In this workshop, we will read some delicious poetry of place to inspire and provoke us to confront our stories about home. We’ll discuss how these writers use poetry of place to remember, resist, and even reimagine their relationship to home. Next, we will respond to a series of written and visual prompts to help us craft our own draft poems about the places and spaces we call home. We’ll play in the gaps and tensions between facts and feelings, community and isolation, past and future. You will be offered an opportunity to share the work you create (though not required), as well as offer generative feedback to your peers. This workshop is open to all levels of writers and creatives.
Registration is required. Please see full details on Eventbrite. Suggested donation is $20, though pay what you can; no one will be turned away.
Light refreshments provided.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Kellie Richardson is a queer Black writer and creative born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. Her work primarily explores themes of love, loss, and longing, with particular attention to how those themes intersect with Black American humanity. A former Tacoma Poet Laureate, Kellie has released two collections of poetry, What Us Is (2017) and The Art of Naming My Pain (2024), both published by Blue Cactus Press. Passionate about experimentation and art as a liberatory practice, her poetry often integrates visual elements such as collage and color. Richardson is currently working on her third collection and attending the Rainier Writers’ Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. You can learn more about her work on her website and Substack.
This program is supported in part by Tacoma Creates, a program of the City of Tacoma.