Poets in Practice is a Portland-based, community-centered informal group of creative souls from all walks of life who strive to bring more poetry into our everyday existence. We are a diverse group of artists, educators, scientists, builders, professionals, and most of all, students-for-life who believe in the power of poetry to enrich perception, deepen empathy, and encourage more responsible community participation. We believe that poetry is for everyone, and define “poetry” to broadly include expression beyond the written page, such as spoken word, rap/hip-hop, and mixed media. 

 

Our main activity is to hold no-cost, one-hour generative writing sessions on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 12 noon PST led by a weekly volunteer member-moderator. The sessions begin with fifteen minutes allotted to the moderator’s presentation of the day’s poem and writing prompts, followed by at least 30 minutes of quiet individual writing time, with the final 15 minutes devoted to general discussion about where the prompt led us. Perfect attendance is not compulsory (members can drop in as regularly or as little as they like), and all participation, whether by speaking out during the general discussions or by moderating, is on a completely voluntary basis.

 

Currently, we are only in the beginning stages of realizing our mission, with future plans in the works for featuring original poems, poetry book reviews, and articles on our blog, as well as hosting various other poetry-related events. We invite you to stay tuned, and please feel welcome to join or leave any questions or comments – just fill out the contact form and we’ll respond and include the session zoom links!