January 13
What Can a Poem Do?
Ridgway Elementary School

In these lively, interactive assemblies, Rosemerry leads children on a poetic path, helping them find the poetry in their own lives and create poems together.

January 20
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
Thursdays, 6-8 p.m.
Wilkinson Public Library Program Room, free

The downfall of human society, said French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, will stem from our disconnect with the world around us. More recently, Albert Einstein noted, “The field is the only reality.” Poets, too, have been exploring this concept for centuries—how do we connect the world around us? Our survival depends on the answer— all the more reason to be paying attention! In this five-week poetry discussion series we’ll read five contemporary American poets: Mary Oliver, Li-Young Lee, Jane Hirschfield, Naomi Shihab-Nye and Louise Glück, and explore how they link the external “field” with what happens inside of us—creating connections between outer landscapes and inner emotional landscapes. What kind of impact can this awareness have on our lives? How might we carry this awareness with us as we engage in the world? 

For more information, contact Scott at 970-728-4519.

January 21
Bringing it Home: An evening of ecstatic domestic poetry and song Friday,
5:30- 8 p.m.  
Tickets $20 in advance/$25 at the door
 
Come join us for the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum’s first fundraiser featuring Telluride’s beloved poet & singer Rosemerry Wahtola-Trommer. The award-winning author of numerous poetry collections, whose work appears in O Magazine, Prairie Home Companion and other media, will sing, recite many poets, read from her own work and invite response. “The new year can be a time of nesting—putting our houses in order and redefining who we want to be,” she says. “Though the mind is good for practical goal setting, the work of the heart is better served by poetry...In every moment, whether we’re folding clothes, putting the kids to bed or renovating the house, the sacred meets the mundane with infinite chances to open, grow and re-see the world.” For tickets, call (970) 256-4662, or go to <http://www.westerncoloradowritersblogspot.com/>

January 22
One More Step: Writing as a Path for Recovery and Renewal
A Creative, Spiritual Workshop guided by Kim Nuzzo and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Grand Junction, Colorado
10 a.m. – 2 p.m., $30

Everyone writes—grocery lists, to do lists, perhaps a thank you letter. But if you’re willing to risk a little, writing can open doors where before you didn’t even realize a door existed. Spiritual doors. Recovery doors. Doors of renewal and healing. Chemical Dependency Counselor Kim Nuzzo and celebrated Colorado poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer offer a workshop, “Is it a Path or a Test?” for people in recovery that weaves spiritual awakening and the creative poetic impulse. To register, call Trommer at 970-728-0399 or email wordwoman@rosemerry.com. Registrants will be emailed directions to the workshop location in Redlands. Criteria for Participation: Individuals with a solid foundation in 12 Step recovery from any addictive disorder who have worked all of the 12 Steps. Bring pen and paper.

January 27
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see January 20

February 3
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see January 20

February 5
One More Step: Writing as a Path for Recovery and Renewal
A Creative, Spiritual Workshop guided by Kim Nuzzo and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Paonia, Colorado
10 a.m. – 2 p.m., $30

Everyone writes—grocery lists, to do lists, perhaps a thank you letter. But if you’re willing to risk a little, writing can open doors where before you didn’t even realize a door existed. Spiritual doors. Recovery doors. Doors of renewal and healing. Chemical Dependency Counselor Kim Nuzzo and celebrated Colorado poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer offer a workshop, “Breaking Open, Staying Open,” for people in recovery that weaves spiritual awakening and the creative poetic impulse. To register, call Trommer at 970-728-0399 or email wordwoman@rosemerry.com. Registrants will be emailed directions to the workshop location in Paonia. Criteria for Participation: Individuals with a solid foundation in 12 Step recovery from any addictive disorder who have worked all of the 12 Steps. Bring pen and paper.

February 10
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see March 3

February 17
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see March 3 

February 22

Writing the Path: Our goal is discovery

4-6:30 p.m.

Dolores, CO, Teachers as Writers

What path are you on? For thousands of years, the path has been a popular metaphor for understanding our journey through life. Cavafy advises us to “pray that the road is long.” Frost suggests we “take the road less traveled by.” A.R. Ammons advocates that we “hoist our burdens, get on down the road.” How we choose to walk on our path affects all we are connected to. And are we not connected to everything? Through the practices of writing, reading and paying attention—or as Rumi would say, opening the sail—we divine who we are in the world.

This reading and writing workshop will focus on exploring the use of images and how these are used to engage with the landscape, the imagination and the reader. Through our choice of images, we frame the path we’re on. Call 970-728-0399 to have a similar program for your organization. 

February 23
Leaping: How to Wildly Advance Your Writing
A five-week adventure in growing your voice led by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Ridgway, CO Weehawken Arts

When a stranger on the corner asked, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” pianist Arthur Rubinstein famously replied: “Practice. Practice. Practice.” What’s true for the pianist is true for the poet. If you want to improve, it takes practice. In this five-week class, participants will be asked to write a poem a day for a month. A poem a day?! Mmm hmm. You can do it even if you’ve never written a poem outside of English class. All participants will receive a 30-day inspiration booklet with 60 possible prompts written by the workshop leader, but her prompts are merely suggestions. You can scribble a late-night haiku about your cat or type a 14-line sonnet in rhymed iambic pentameter. It doesn’t matter. Nor does it matter if the writing is “good.” It matters that you write. It matters that you play. It matters that you try new things.

More than poetry as product, we’re exploring a poetic life—poetry as path and lens and anchor and kite. If you miss a day, no penalty. it is brave to write at all—but imagine! Thirty poems in 30 days! Think of all the ways you’ll surprise yourself. You may not want to stop. Each day we’ll email our poems to two other students in the class. And each week we’ll all gather to share our discoveries, our struggles and our poems. Guiding you and offering myriad pathways for entering a poem is San Miguel County Poet Laureate Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, who has had a poem-a-day practice for several years. These just might be 30 of the most fun, creative, door-opening, writer’s-block-busting, voice-changing, provocative days of your life. Let’s play. To register, contact Ashley, wcaouray@yahoo.com, 970-318-0150, or visit www.weehawkenarts.org.

March 2
Leaping: How to Wildly Advance Your Writing
See February 23

March 4-6
One More Step: Writing as a Path for Recovery and Renewal RETREAT
A Creative, Spiritual Workshop guided by Kim Nuzzo and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Santa Barbara, CA
The Mission Renewal Center

Everyone writes—grocery lists, to do lists, perhaps a thank you letter. But if you’re willing to risk a little, writing can open doors where before you didn’t even realize a door existed. Spiritual doors. Recovery doors. Doors of renewal and healing. Chemical Dependency Counselor Kim Nuzzo and celebrated Colorado poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer offer a three-day retreat for people in recovery that weaves spiritual awakening and the creative poetic impulse. Reading. Meditating. Writing. Conversation. To register, contact the Mission Renewal Center, by phone: 805-682-4713, x133 or Email: retreats@sboldmission.org.

Criteria for Participation: Individuals with a solid foundation in 12 Step recovery from any addictive disorder who have worked all of the 12 Steps.

Registration begins at 2 pm on Friday, dinner served at 6 pm and retreat concludes with lunch on Sunday.  $180 per person double occupancy / $210 single occupancy / $130 commuter / $230 private bath (limited).

March 9
Leaping: How to Wildly Advance Your Writing
See February 23 

March 10
Lost in Motherland: Writing to Discover Who We Are(n’t)
Telluride, Colorado Wilkinson Public Library
Thursdays in March, 11 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
(March 10, 17, 24, 31), Free
 
Motherhood changes things. Amidst the blessings and the challenges, we transform. As one mother put it, “With my first child, I lost my interests. With my second child, I lost my identity.” How do we lean into motherhood’s paradoxical blend of miracle and loss? Writing can help. As James Pennebroke writes in Opening Up, writing “clears the mind” and helps us “understand and reorient our complicated lives” and “helps keep our psychological compass oriented.” In this four-week program, local mothers and writers Ellen Marie Metrick and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lead other mothers in a writing practice that also includes moving meditation, mapping, reading and other pathways that help us reorient ourselves and meet the moment as it is. What happens when we ask, “Who am I?” As Ramana Maharshi says, “The purpose of that question is not to find an answer but to dissolve the questioner.” What’s that supposed to mean? Come play. For more information, contact Elizabeth Tracey at 970-728-4519

March 16
Leaping: How to Wildly Advance Your Writing
See February 23

March 17
Lost in Motherland: Writing to Discover Who We Are(n’t)
see March 10

March 23
Leaping: How to Wildly Advance Your Writing
See February 23

March 24
Lost in Motherland: Writing to Discover Who We Are(n’t)
see March 10

March 25-27
Karen Chamberlain Poetry Festival
Carbondale, CO

Thunder River Theatre Company and the TRT Board of Directors are pleased to announce their inaugural Karen Chamberlain Poetry Festival to be held at Thunder River Theatre in Carbondale, Colorado, March 25-27, 2011. Everyone is invited to join as we honor the inspiring life of Karen Chamberlain. The celebration will include readings from Karen's works, workshops and a communal sharing of poetry.

The first event of this annual series will feature the theme "Nature Writing and the Desert of the Heart." Join such distinguished poets as Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Cameron Scott, Bill Kight, Kristin Carlson, Kim Nuzzo, Carol Bell, Sandra Dorr and Art Goodtimes, as well as many wonderful poets who were supported and inspired by Karen Chamberlain. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer shares that, “Karen was a fierce poetic force in such a soft way, always encouraging writers, opening doors, and also telling it real with just enough honey that a difficult truth felt like a gift. So many lives she touched with her generosity and clarity. She led by example how to live fully, passionately, compassionately."
For more information, please e-mail karenchamberlainpoetryfestival@gmail.com

March 31
Lost in Motherland: Writing to Discover Who We Are(n’t) see March 10

July 22
Yipperee, It’s Poetry!
Telluride Farmer’s Market
Wilkinson Public Library Noontime Children’s Series

What rhymes with sun? Fun. And that’s what we’ll have for this half-hour of word play and poetry performance. Renowned Colorado poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer will bring poems to life—from the silly to the sublime—with lots of chances for the kids to join in, too. Through poems and songs from our own culture and beyond, Rosemerry helps kids think about words as good friends. For more information, contact Elizabeth Tracey, 970-728-4519.

August 12-14
Poetry Performance Festival
Ziggies, Denver, CO
TBA