Free Mindful Poetry Moments Returns for National Poetry Month Offering

March 15, 2021
For Immediate Release
Contact: Rowe Schnure (they/them), Communications Coordinator, The Well
rowe@thewell.world
513-965-1741

Free Mindful Poetry Moments Returns for National Poetry Month Offering

This April, The Well and The On Being Project collaborate again to bring Mindful Poetry Moments to schools, individuals, and social service organizations for free during National Poetry Month and beyond. Each week, participants will be offered recordings of poems selected from The On Being Project’s Poetry Unbound podcast, read by host Pádraig Ó Tuama.

Mindful Poetry selections include poems by Aracelis Girmay, Paul Tran, Philip Metres, Roger Robinson, and James Wright. Each week includes 5 days of audio resources that combine mindful prompts and meaning-making questions with the poem.

Mindful Poetry Moments content is free to all schools, individuals, and social service organizations thanks to The On Being Project. All of the content is available in an easy-to-use web app.

The Well and The On Being Project are also excited to offer weekly virtual gatherings for all ages to listen, contemplate, and respond to that week’s poem. Each gathering will begin with a Mindful Moment, followed by a reflection on the poem and prompts for creative response, facilitated by a different poet in each session. The virtual gatherings are supported by The Hive, The Mercantile Library, and WordPlay.

Participants in last year’s virtual gatherings wrote poems that were included in a Mindful Poetry book. The On Being Project and The Well will publish a second edition out of poems written in this year’s virtual gatherings and school program.

Virtual Events:

Wednesday, April 7th, 3 pm EST
Consider the Hands That Write This Letter, Aracelis Girmay
Haleh Liza, poem discussion and prompt
Amy Tuttle, opening meditation
Register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/142008716895

Wednesday, April 14th, 3 pm EST
A Portable Paradise, Roger Robinson
Desirae Hosley, poem discussion and prompt
Kara Pierson, opening meditation
Register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/142008716895

Wednesday, April 21st, 3 pm EST
One Tree, by Philip Metres
Frank X. Walker, poem discussion and prompt
Sonya Verma, opening meditation
Register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/142008716895

Wednesday, April 28th, 3 pm EST
A Blessing, by James Wright
Manuel Iris, poem discussion and prompt
Troy Bronsink, opening meditation
Register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/142008716895

Wednesday, May 5th, 3 pm EST
The Cave, by Paul Tran
Eddie Gonzalez, poem discussion and prompt
Sarah Yeung
Register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/142008716895

[Mindful Poetry 2021 Image created by Beth Walrond.]

About The Well and The On Being Project

The On Being Project

The On Being Project is a media and public life initiative. Our mission is to pursue deep thinking and moral imagination, social courage and joy, to renew inner life, outer life, and life together. We make a public radio show, podcasts, and tools for the art of living. Six grounding virtues guide everything we do. We explore the intersection of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, community, poetry, and the arts.

Poetry Unbound from The On Being Project

Your new ritual: Immerse yourself in a single poem, guided by Pádraig Ó Tuama. Short and unhurried; contemplative and energizing. Anchor your week by listening to the everyday poetry of your life, with new episodes on Monday and Friday during the season.

The Well

The Well holds space for personal, relational and public healing combining mindfulness and embodiment practices with music, poetry, movement and more. It’s signature program is Mindful Music Moments where students, teachers and administrators -- take time each morning to turn inward together, listen to a brief mindfulness prompt, classical music and/or poetry. That's Mindful Music Moments, now in 265+ K-12 schools, camps and social service organizations daily and climbing, touching more than 85,000+ students in a calming and focusing ritual.

The Well collaborates with world-class organizations including The Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Cincinnati Opera, Starting Arts and now The On Being Project to bring daily mindfulness and arts to schools and community places, generally delivered during announcements. The Well is nourished by the non-profit organization, A Mindful Moment.

Virtual GatheringFacilitator Bios: 

Amy Tuttle
Amy enjoys supporting communities with creative art-making, story-based practice, trauma healing, energy work, and rites of passage work. Tuttle believes that these practices play an important role in personal growth, community-building, and cultural transformation. With an MA in Arts & Transformation, she has served communities around the globe as a teacher, trainer, and artist. Locally, Tuttle serves as Director of Programming for Wordplay Cincy, a local arts-based organization where “stories write the future.” Additionally, she is a True Body Leadership Alum and a frequent collaborator of The Well. 

Haleh Liza Gafori
Haleh Liza Gafori is a poet, vocalist, translator, and educator, born in New York of Persian descent. Her forthcoming book of translations entitled GOLD features poems by the 13th century poet Rumi and will be released in August of 2021 by New York Review Books/NYRB Classics. 

Desirae Hosley
Desirae “The Silent Poet” Hosley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Known for being the quietest person on the scene, it’s astounding to see such a little lady with such a big voice that packs a powerful punch. She is a Spoken Word Artist, Performance Poet, Motivational Speaker, Actress, and Community Organizer. She has recently realized a book of poetry titled, The Silent Poet Re-Introduced as... HUMAN. Being a peer advocate and rape crisis counselor, no wonder her poetry sits close to home with many listeners. Applauded for not being apologetic for any of the words that come out of her mouth, helps her be fearless and attain many of her great accomplishments. Additionally, Desirae is a True Body Leadership Alum. 

Kara Pierson
Pierson is an Xavier University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She studied meditation at Yoga on High Ayurveda Institute and has collaborated with Cincinnati Public Schools, Project Connect, Miami University, University of Cincinnati Women’s Center, TriState Trauma Network, Cincinnati State Community & Technical College, Cincinnati Art Museum, Hamilton County Department of Disability Services, The Hive: Center For Contemplation, Art, and Action, Cradle Cincinnati, Queens Village Cincinnati, and Butler County Family & Children First Council. Pierson is The Well’s first Wellspring Fellow and a True Body Leadership Alum 

Sonya Verma
Sonya Verma MHSA, MBI is the founder of Inner Radiant Life, a yoga and meditation facilitator, Ayurvedic Counselor and Reiki Master Practitioner with a passion for discovering the intersection of creative expression and healing in a community based setting. Honoring her Eastern Indian heritage and Western upbringing she brings a unique approach to her work that is heart-centered, compassionate, and empowering. She weaves her training from different modalities of somatic healing from various yoga traditions with a centralized focus on embodiment practices. Additionally, Sonya is a True Body Leadership Alum.

Frank X. Walker
Frank X Walker is a Former Kentucky Poet Laureate and a Professor in the department of English and the African American and Africana Studies Program at the University of Kentucky and the founding editor of Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture. A Cave Canem Fellow and co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, he is the author of eight collections of poetry including, Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, winner of the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry; and Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award as well as two new collections, The Affrilachian Sonnets and About Flight.

He has lectured, conducted workshops and read poetry at over 400 national conferences, arts centers and universities across the globe including Derry, Northern Ireland; Santiago, Cuba; Shanghai and Beijing, China, Mainz, Germany, Toronto, Canada, New York's Lincoln Center, the University of California at Berkeley; Notre Dame; and Appalachian State University.

Voted one of the most creative professors in the south, he is the originator of the word, Affrilachia, and is dedicated to deconstructing and forcing a new definition of what it means to be Appalachian. The Lannan Poetry Fellowship Award recipient has degrees from the University of Kentucky and Spalding University as well as three honorary doctorates from the University of Kentucky, Spalding University and Transylvania University. 

Manuel Iris
Manuel Iris holds a BA in Latin American Literature from the Autonomous University of the Yucatan (Mexico), an MA in Spanish from the New Mexico State University, and a PhD in Romance Languages from the University of Cincinnati, the city in which he lives. He received the “Merida” National award of poetry (Mexico, 2009) for his book Notebook of dreams, and the Rodulfo Figueroa Regional award of poetry for his book The disguises of fire (Mexico, 2014). In 2016 three different anthologies of his poetic work were published: The naked light, in Venezuela; Before the mystery, in El Salvador; and, Traducir el Silencio/Translating silence, in New York. This book won two different awards at the International Latino Book Awards in Los Angeles, California, in 2018. Manuel Iris, currently Poet Laureate of the City of Cincinnati.

Troy Bronsink
Troy Bronsink is the director/founder of The Hive: A Center for Contemplation, Art, and Action. For those seeking inner and outer transformation, the Hive is a conscious community creating awakening experiences and fueling collective change in the world. Troy is also a facilitator, speaker, author, and spiritual director advocating for mindfulness, antiracism, creativity, leadership and community formation. He lives with his family in Cincinnati, Ohio. www.cincyhive.org

Eddie Gonzalez
Eddie Gonzalez has a keen interest in the dance between inner and outer life, the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell each other. He joined the On Being Project in 2018 after a decade of work around stories and spiritual care, first as a writer and hospice chaplain, and then at StoryCorps, where he supported individuals and organizations looking to create space for reflective conversations through community-based storytelling and audio recording projects. Eddie believes deeply in the power of collaboration and is based in New York City, connecting the growing ecosystem of projects, leaders, and listeners within the On Being community.

Sarah Yeung
Sarah is the owner of SKY Sound Yoga, where she provides yoga and sound healing offerings to clients in New Jersey and globally. Sarah is a certified yoga instructor with over 500 hours of training (RYT-500). Since 2010, she has trained in various mindfulness, somatic embodiment, energy, and sound healing modalities in Asia and the U.S. and has been teaching since 2015. Through her own journey in recovery for over 13 years and as a trauma survivor, she is particularly interested in the healing properties of yoga and sounds. She has advanced training and experience for mental health, addictions, eating disorders, and trauma. Sarah is a True Body Leadership Alum and a frequent collaborator of The Well.