CRUCIBLE​​
An open field between
Two lifetimes conjoin; so brief
Presence is the ground
Receiving is the ember
What do our Hearts want to say?
Hear Ye Humans from all directions and persuasions this a call to your soul....
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To slow, remember, receive and bear witness our multitudes. You are not a sound bite, you do not need to excel or amuse in exchange for your place here. You were born worthy.
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Welcome to the Listener Poet practice and process. An attuned, intimate and alchemical experience that receives your story through deep presence and reflects it back to you, using the medicinal art of poetry.
about the practice
and process.
The Listener Poet practice is a 20 minute one-to-one listening session where you can share whatever is on your mind and receive a custom, compassionate poem reflective of your voice and experience in this moment. It is the art of deep listening turned into a tangible piece of reflective art in return.
What are Listener Poets?
Listener Poets are trained in deep listening and poetic reflection. This process and practice was created by The Good Listening Project. TGLP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to humanizing healthcare through the healing power of poetry and compassionate presence. They create spaces for deep listening and poetic reflection that foster connection and promote wellbeing.
When I found this practice, it felt like an extension of the healing work that I offer, only using poetry.
This practice can be deeply supportive for anyone, doing any kind of work in the world. And is most potent during threshold times - such as birthdays, shifts in relationships, careers, home and within beginnings and endings.
Why Poetry?
Poetry can be found throughout cultures and time as a form of expressive art that reflects time, place, the seen and unseen.
It's very nature is to include the entirety of the human experience, from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
A thoughtfully crafted poem can liberate, offer a much needed external perspective and affirm the more remote places within that often go unnamed.
While poetry can embody specific rules and structure, the beauty of poetry is that at its root it can be as multi-dimensional as we are.
A bit structure and a bit wild.
It can follow well established grooves or completely re-write them.
Why Listen?
One-to-One Listening Sessions
are a dedicated space to reflect and feel heard.
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In an era of quickness, consumption, distraction and extraction its a radical act to slow, offer up presence and inhabit ones story, unapologetically and true.
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Listener Poet sessions partnered with creative reflection have been shown to:
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Support emotional regulation and thoughtful processing
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Foster a sense of being seen, heard and valued
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Reduce isolation and stress
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Strengthen interconnectedness through empathy and shared humanity​​
read a poem...
or three.
A couple of notes about these poems...
Each poem is accompanied by an Origin Story. This gifts an outside reader some orientation as to where the poem grew from. It also acts as a vessel to receive pieces of the poemee's story that did not make it into the finished poem.
Many poems are two pages in length, do scroll to the second page to read the entire work.
Due the PDF embed, the poems may take a moment longer to load to your screen.
All poems shared with permission.
Origin story for “Not a Lost Word, Freedom”
by Listener Poet Tanya Hughes
​“How to be in Freedom?”
“There can be space here.”
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This poemee finds themselves within an ongoing, multi-rooted conversation to re-imagine their relationship to grind
culture, diligence, obligation and service. A mixed-heritage trauma and addiction therapist, community healer, mentor,
facilitator and land tender, they feel a deep accountability to their community, close friends and family and to the land
in which they tend. The tasks are endless, the calendar always full and the opportunities for uninterrupted rest, slim.
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They expressed feeling “cagey”, trapped by their own making. More than simply looking for a suitable work-life
balance, this poemee has a multi-decade history of deep diving into ancestral trauma, buddhist led spiritual
teachings, earth medicine practices and relational repair. They recognize that, with practice, the pervasive feelings of
obligation and overwhelm can be transmuted into a deep, unwaivering joy and gratitude for the radical and true life of
service they are weaving.
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When asked how this poem may be of support to them, the poemee asked that the poem reflect a sense of freedom,
lightness and playfulness. I included a line from and made references to the song “The Lost Words Blessing” - as this
is a song the poemee is memorizing and reciting while watering their garden.
Origin story for “Fixings for Belonging”
by Listener Poet Tanya Hughes
A lifelong artist, community activist, avid gardener, mother and student of the senses, she expresses her community
care, deeply and abundantly, through cooking and gathering.
Hosting meals at her home, dropping meals off for both
caretaking needs and simply joy, this poemee has spent decades experimenting and loving the textures, aromas,
tastes and alchemy that foods bring, alone and when shared.
She shared a tender moment this past week from a
dinner at her home. Expressing how she was consciously shifting from the role of "host-ess with the most-ess” to an
easier, collaborative version of self in community. How she was shifting her attention from the food and towards “the
intention of being together”.
And in this specific gathering, she unexpectedly felt and "tapped into a sense of belonging” that tenderly touched on what she never received in her own family of origin. The experience “authentically gravitational and fulsome”.
Origin story for “Becoming”
by Listener Poet Tanya Hughes
When prompted about identifiers that felt accurate, this poemee swiftly said “earthling”. A woman who defies any one
fixed way of living, thinking or being, her life has been a hands on one.
Crafting, caretaking, tending, cooking, gardening, baking, organizing…an entrepreneur, a grandchild of Ukrainian immigrants, space holder and solution maker…while her life is expressive, it has taken its toll of perseverance and grit to move from concept to form. She admits that hardwork/overwork, a known wheelhouse, has become a place to hide, a place to grieve, a place to cope.
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She is conjuring a new way. A way of beauty, a way of rest, a way in which the muse, not the task list leads.
She recalled spirituality from her early childhood and how “the Word” and prayer resonates in their own way now as
beacons within the unknown.
Origin story for “My Nature is Love”
by Listener Poet Tanya Hughes
This poemee has a multi-decade history of caregiving. An RN specializing in oncological care, an end of life doula
and co-founder of an end of life non-profit, a yoga practitioner and gardener, her life has evolved into a deep
commitment to community care and service, therein.
She is nearing a moment when she can back up from best laid
plans and listen to the call of her heart, as it is now. The moment is one of reflection, refinement and remembering.
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She shares a sparkling anticipation for what may lay on the other side of these known grooves of caretaking. She shared a favorite quote “The vastness is only bearable through Love. “ by Carl Sagan.
Origin story for “A Path of Light”
by Listener Poet Tanya Hughes
A Shadow Yoga teacher, devotee, mentor, partner, business owner, mother and community tender - this poemee has
cultivated and committed a lifetime of study towards “the science of Light”.
A lineage holder within the yogic tradition, she uplifts both reverence and care for esoteric knowledge passed down through the ages, safe guarding its transformational accuracy.
Amidst modernities quick, capitalistic and extractive nature, this poemee is creating a haven of both study and service.
Origin story for “To Stay”
by Listener Poet Tanya Hughes
A multi-decade psychotherapist, facilitator and nature lover, she is re-emerging from a sudden and major life re-orientation with the loss of her partner.
True to the depth of her character and how she works with her clients, this poemee let the experience of loss lead her ever more deeply into her heart and vulnerability therein.
In our conversation she shares how “my heart is closer to the world” and while this re-emergence of sorts could bait one into
business as usual, she feels no matter what “the presence of my heart stays”.