“Keeping the Fire” Poetry Workshop
Native poet, spoken word artist and educator Tanaya Winder held a poetry workshop called “Keeping the Fire” last Wednesday. Through her teaching and writing, Winder explores different expressions of love—self love, intimate love, social love and universal love. At her workshop, Winder shared her philosophies of love with the students and faculty in attendance and presented them with creative and stimulating writing exercises. As the group wrote on their own, Winder played music and shared personal anecdotes.
Winder began the workshop with a drawing exercise. She gave each person a blank piece of paper, told them to shut their eyes and instructed them to draw a house—a bird, a nest, a car, a tree—without looking. She explained that this simple exercise demonstrated the human ability to create: to make something, no matter how rough, appear out of nothing.
“You just have to write. Through writing you will find healing and joy and you will find love.”
Following that, she asked each person to write nine sentences, incorporating the five senses and addressing the sensations of “knowing joy, pain and love.” The group went around and read their lines, which came together to create a found poem. The group was amazed at the common themes that emerged from each other’s work.
Upper Nicole Shi explained that the stories the group created wove “together—like a thread—something strong.” Intern at the Office of Multicultural Affairs Danielle Lucero said she realized that her experiences were shared by many of the people in the room. “I realized that I am not alone,” she said. “The feelings of wanting to go home, of feeling stress, of fearing failure, all of these were expressed by different people in the room and it honestly just made me feel so much better knowing that we all have a shared experience, faculty and students.”
Lamont Gallery Intern Olivia Knauss agreed and said that the writing exercises illuminated the beauty in everyone’s differences and similarities. She could personally relate to Lucero’s story about her parents singing and dancing in the kitchen in their New Mexico home while she was growing up. “I know love because I’ve seen my parents singing and dancing in the kitchen on Sunday mornings,” Knauss said. “I grew up almost 2,000 miles from Ms. Lucero in Buffalo, N.Y., but I thought it was beautiful how we both shared the same concrete imagery that provided us with the evidence that we are both loved.” She explained that Winder’s prompts helped to reveal this commonality. “Even though our experiences and backgrounds are vastly different, it’s wonderful to know that we have love in common,” she concluded.
Many in attendance said that Winder’s prompts helped students discover things about themselves. Knauss reflected that she was surprised by what she ended up writing. “The poetry prompts drew out feelings that I keep at bay from day to day,” she said. “Winder’s workshop gave me the space to acknowledge them, good or bad.” Lucero agreed, saying “[Winder’s] workshop really helped students and faculty that were present put things in perspective and it also allowed for everyone to vent through the medium of poetry and writing.”
Upper Livaslou Tanjong enjoyed watching the people around her delve into their memories. “I personally didn’t expect a masterpiece after the workshop, but I was shocked to find that I’d written an entire poem and some lines I really liked,” she said. She explained that by listening to Winder speak she found that “it was the things often left unsaid, the personal narratives students are too often afraid to write, that really struck a chord with attendees.”
The group appreciated not only Winder’s writing expertise, but also the messages she conveyed about love. “You are worthy and you are loved, and your love is worth something,” said Winder. “It could be creating something, it could be meeting somebody, it could be serving a higher purpose, but love has the power to transform.”
Lucero said that Winder reminded her about the forms of love often forgotten in daily life, and she learned how to think about this love through writing. “[The writing] doesn’t have to be flawless,” said Lucero. “You just have to write. Through writing you will find healing and joy and you will find love.”
Lucero said that those who attended and participated learned something new about themselves and about the people with whom they share a community. “That is how our community will begin to move toward being stronger and more inclusive,” she said. “We need to learn to love everyone, and in that room everyone was open, respectful and willing to learn and love each other.”
She concluded that she hopes Winder will return to campus and share her message with more students and faculty. “Her message is so beautiful and honest,” said Lucero. “Everyone would benefit from hearing her talk about love.”