The Shaking Legs Poetry Club

About the Poetry Club

The idea for the 'Shaking Legs Poetry Club' was birthed from much enthusiasm from members of our walk and talk therapy group. I have run a poetry club before in Australia with young people in the mental health service 'Headspace' so it was with much joy that we discovered that outside of walking many people have found reading and writing poetry to be a space for peace, 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 one founding poetry club member, the published poet Hanna Buklieieva, born in Ukraine and now residing in Chile wrote in a poetic response to the conversation:

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 PracticeReader Empowerment Through Re-Authoring Conversations"

Four Sessions of Unfinished Projects

There will be four sessions of the Shaking Legs Poetry Club held ONLINE over Novemer and December and while the themes are linked, each session stands alone so you can join one, any or all. Join us for the last session of this series and year.

About 'Unfinished Projects'

Following the richness of our first series 'Spring Poetry Sessions', this next series of meet ups explores ideas around finished and unfinished works of poetry and finding homes for pieces of writing. Bring your unfinished poems to these sessions and in response to facilitated discussion and 'outsider' and 'insider' poets we will consider what it means to find homes for poems.

Coastal Poet Series, January 2025

In this series we explore four themes concerned with human existence: connection, meaning, freedom, and death accompanied by poets of Chile's beautiful coastline. Poems of the chilean coastal poets provide us with moving and thought provoking starter material to share resonances and reverberations as we discuss our experiences of the themes then engage in free writing of poems and ideas that surface individually and collectively.

Come to any or all of the sessions. Sessions are online via zoom and you can join from anywhere. Poems are sent out the Friday before each session to those enrolled so sign up early to be a part of the whatsapp group. Scroll down to find out about the next get together in person.

Poet's Coastal Road Trip in January

The weekend of the 10th and 11th of January the poetry club will host an event for those interested in heading down to the coast for the weekend to visit the houses of three of the poets whose words we will be in conversation with this month. The online session on the 11th will continue online with those interested in participating.

Break down of the trip (approx)

Saturday 10th January 2026

10am: Departure point Vitacura, Santiago for Santiago poetry clubbers

11:00am: Pick up coastal poetry clubbers in Cartagena and surrounds

11:30am-13:00pm: Visit to Vicente Huidibro's house and poetry writing

13:00pm: Lunch at a 'picada tipica chilena'

14:30- 5:30pm: Visit to Casa Nicanor Parra's house, walk and poetry writing

6:00pm: Dinner and drop offs to accomodation around Cartagena (up to Las Cruces)

Sunday 11th January 2026

9:00am: Pick up poetry clubbers in surrounds

10:00-11:30: Poetry club meeting on 'Isolation' (those not at the event will be tuning in)

11:30am-13:30pm: Visit to Pablo Neruda House and poetry writing