Call to the Fading Moon: Birdsong as Poetry Prompt

In “The Loon,” Mary Oliver describes a moment where, woken from sleep and deciding to read, she hears “the perfect voice of the loon” calling “to the fading moon, to the pink flush / swelling in the east” soon to be the new day. “I do not close the book,” she says. “Neither, for a long while, do I read on.”

In this workshop, participants will listen to birdsong from living and extinct bird species to capture luminous moments of inspiration. Long a symbol of union between earth and sky, the physical and the spiritual, poets have been writing about birds for centuries. And in a world where climate change has turned to climate crisis, where pandemic survivors are left to process loss and grief, where the world sometimes seems unrecognizable, birds are more than harbingers of myth and metaphor. Here, their song serves as prompt for powerful new poetry offering hope and healing. Participants will receive packets of bird-themed eco-poetry and resources for further, at-home inspiration.

This class takes place online via Zoom.

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