The Shaking Legs Poetry Club

About the Poetry Club

 

The idea for the 'Shaking Legs Poetry Club' was birthed from much enthusiasm with two members of our walk and talk therapy group: Hanna Buklieva, Ukrainan poet now living in Valparaiso, and Carl Munoz, poet and vagabond currently found in Las Cruces.

 

I have run a poetry club before in Australia with young people in the mental health service 'Headspace' and found it to be such a rich and joyful experience so I was delighted to discover others who found reading and writing poetry to be a space for creativity, reflection, and energy in their lives. In conversation around what it was that poetry meant to people, there was the idea that poetry manages to capture things in our everyday lives that can often go unnoticed. It can turn black and white days into vivid memories filled with colour. As Hanna wrote in a poetic response in our very first session:

​

My legs have been shaking,

And eyes start to spark,

The process of making,

Brings light after dark.

​

Hence the name for our group "The Shaking Legs Poetry Club"!

​

As a narrative therapist and lover of poetry reading and writing my hope for this group is to create a 'circle of security' where creativity can be fostered and the very real stories of our lives nurtured and linked together through this poetic endeavour. I am hoping it will also lead to many other community centred projects as run by the members themselves.

​

If you are curious about the link between narrative therapy and poetry therapy (also known as bibliotherapy), you can read more about it here in this recent article by Mariana Casale "Bibliotherapy as Narrative Practice: Reader Empowerment Through Re-Authoring Conversations"