Sit like a mountain, write like a river.

Mountains and Rivers

is a writing & meditation group for writers, secret poets, & those who are open & curious about how these practices can support one another

Wednesdays, November 27-December 11, 2024

 Noon to 1:30 PM Eastern Time

Together, with meditation teacher/poet/artist Susa Talan (Open Door Meditation Community), and poet/artist/writing teacher Holly Wren Spaulding (Poetry Forge), we will explore the the themes of Wakefulness, Wisdom, and Community, through practices that we've found most useful and transformative in our own creative and inner lives.

What to expect: 

Our gatherings include meditation (~20-30 minutes) guided by Susa, a period of creative writing with Holly, and remarks from both of us to contextualize the practices in terms of the week's theme. Those interested in working toward a poem will be given materials to shape that process; those preferring to use the time for reflective writing will be offered an alternate route to explore on the page. 

We look forward to sincere exchanges about the correspondences you find between art making, the cultivation of your bodymind, and the inner path/spiritual aspects of your life, and we are excited to share this special offering with you, fellow contemplatives, because our creative lives are simultaneous with our spiritual lives, and each has enhanced the other in such significant ways.

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The Mountains and Rivers group meets on Zoom and is hosted by Poetry Forge. Study materials and recordings will be housed inside the Poetry Forge class portal for easy access to members, for a whole year. 

The Fall 2024 series is the outcome of years of conversations and individual inquiry. Having discovered and distilled what we find most essential in terms of our creative lives, we want to share some of these ideas and lessons with you, along with a project that could become a focus during the months that follow. 

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"The first two meetings have been so good I was sad it was going to end, so when I saw there was a 2nd series I was eager. I have written interesting poems in each session." —Maggie

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"I have been drawn to Buddhist teachings for years, but I could not imagine myself joining a temple. Today I saw the possibility of sangha in a much freer way. I was so happy to see so many known and trusted faces this morning, and also some new ones. I have attempted to meditate, self-taught with books from Jack Kornfield, for years, and I am happy to have this new support."—Nancy

Frequently Asked Questions

www.poetryforge.us

About Us

Susa Talan is a meditation teacher who cofounded Open Door Meditation Community in Portland, Maine. She has been studying and practicing Insight Meditation since 2006, and is a long-time student of Sayadaw U Tejaniya with whom she ordained temporarily in 2010. Susa has been writing poetry and making art for more than three decades. She brings a lifetime of experience living with ADHD to her work supporting other meditators. Susa has an abiding interest in the ways we can work with the mind and heart to alleviate suffering, and bring joy and ease to our human experience.

Raised in a family where Zen poetry and philosophy were primary influences, Holly Wren Spaulding devoted herself to poetry and art from a young age. She earned an M. Phil. in Creative Writing from Trinity College Dublin around the time she took formal precepts as a Buddhist. She is a student of Haju Sunim and longtime member of the Zen Buddhist Temple in Ann Arbor, Michigan, although she now lives and practices in Maine. The natural affinity between her spiritual inclinations and the practice of poetry is at the heart of all she does. As a teacher and mentor to writers, she is especially interested in the ways we can cultivate and sustain our connection to the present moment through a poetics of attention.