WE Wednesday: Poetry Workshop

Counting with our Words

            ~Leticia Hernández-Linares*                                                                                      

One of the ancient peoples of the Américas, the Mexica, revered poetry as a practice that gathered the community and expressed ideologies and spiritual beliefs.  There are various words that communicate the act of creating narratives, both written, painted, and sung.  

In various indigenous Mesoamerican languages, lines and stories are comprised of a combination of symbols and words. We will take inspiration from indigenous language structures and poetic forms based on alphabets and count with our words. Because to tell is to count. 

To celebrate National Poetry Month and Earth month,  we will play with language and words, learn some short poetic exercises, and get started on writing a few poems about ourselves and our place(s) in the world.