sparks to illuminate the poet’s path

December 1–21, 2025
+ On demand from December 1 onward 

"Soon the nights will lengthen,
you will lean into the year
humming like a saw.
You will fill the lamps with kerosene,
knowing somewhere a line breaks,
a city goes black,
people dig for candles in the bottom drawer.
You will be ready. You will use the song like a match."

—Naomi Shihab Nye

A Winter Invitation

When the light grows thin, we gather close to the flame.
Many Lanterns offers a season of warmth and creative renewal—brief, illuminating lessons to help you write through the dark and rekindle your poetic fire.

Each day brings a spark: a voice-guided lesson, a companion poem, and a gentle prompt to begin anew. Together they nurture both your writing and your poet’s heart, helping you collect a constellation of fresh drafts to carry into the new year. 

What You’ll Receive

This experience has been distilled to the essentials of a consistent and inspiring practice, offering poets (and secret poets):

• 21+ approachable invitations to begin new poems—you’ll leave with as many drafts if you complete them all.

• 21+ companion readings, each carefully chosen to ignite possibility and deepen your understanding of the art.

• Craft pointers and poetic techniques to help you stay with your new work, rather than setting it aside.

• Voice-guided lessons from Holly Wren Spaulding, with printable handouts for your notebook or writing walks.

• New in 2025: a series of Live Gatherings during the first half of December—spaces to write together, find rhythm, and begin well as we move toward Solstice.

For You, If...

You long to connect to that quiet source of heat within yourself.
You wish to feel creatively alive in the stillness of winter.
You’re seeking gentle structure, encouragement, and poetic company to sustain your writing through the long nights.

Whether you move through the lessons in three weeks or stretch them across the season, Many Lanterns will keep your poetry lamp from going dark.

What Poets Are Saying

“I was just so struck this morning realizing how much I love having these Lantern lessons and ideas! The poems are amazing, and the little prompts are much bigger than ‘little prompts.’ They’ve been an unexpected lifeline. Not only have I written, but I’ve changed some things I do as a result of your ideas. It’s really changed both body and soul.”
— Kris K., January 2025

“My vision was limited for a time, due to surgery, and for a reader and writer this was especially hard to cope with. But your voice has been a balm. With your vocal encouragement, I’ve written a little each day this season.”
— Cathy L., January 2025

“As I listened to the brief audio sessions, I often felt as if I were overhearing you talking with friends and colleagues. These sessions created a small, sacred space in my mind about writing—reminding me why I do it.”
— Dave Russo, Winter 2025

Join Us

Your lantern bearer is Holly Wren Spaulding, a poet and teacher known for her trustworthy, transformative methods.
Join us during the season of long nights. Let us walk through the darkness together.

Registration

Early Bird Price: $495
(through October 31)
Regular Price: $545

Payment plans available—please reach out if needed.

FAQ

Holly Wren Spaulding is an award-winning writer, teaching artist, and the founder of Poetry Forge, where she leads creative writing workshops, retreats, and a manuscript incubator for poets.

A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy’s creative writing program, she holds advanced degrees from the University of Michigan and Trinity College Dublin. In addition to running her own school, she teaches for Interlochen College of Creative Arts and at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.

Her recent books include Familiars (Alice Greene & Co., 2020), Fire (St. Brigid Press, 2021), and Between Us (Alice Greene & Co., 2022). Her poems and essays have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Witness, Poetry Northwest, The New York Times, and in several anthologies, including The Poetry of Presence and The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal.

She lives and writes on the southern seacoast of Maine, where the landscape continually shapes her work and her teaching.