Classes @ San Diego Writers, Ink – Jim Moreno

                        Poetry for July’s Virtual Poem-Making Workshop

with Jim Moreno, San Diego Writers, Ink

Sunday, July 20, 2025, 1PM to 4PM PST

Register by copying the following link & pasting in your browser:  https://writeyourstorynow.org/classes-workshops/2025-07-20-copal-the-medicine-of-music-and-poetry-with-jim-moreno/

     Indigenous healers (curanderos) in Mexico use copal to cleanse individuals and spaces of negative energies (smudging). The smoke is thought to purify and protect. Jim Moreno was taught on a Kumeyaay Reservation in Baja that copal is a spiritual medicine. Some writers feel that music and poetry are a sort of spiritual medicine, a transformational tool. A well-played tune, a well-written and performed poem, seems to transform those writers & listeners, bring them out of negativity and into some sort of pleasant here-and-now awareness or zone.

     Looking at the roots of the art tree, we see that there are many: painting, sculpture, theater, dance, literature, music, architecture, & cinema. Let’s choose two, music and poetry. In Chris DeVito’s book, Coltrane on Coltrane, The John Coltrane Interviews ((A Capella Books, USA, 2010), the words of this master saxophonist light the path of the poet. Especially in the way Coltrane played, inspired by the playing and performances of the masters on whose shoulders he stood. It’s the copal of creativity, a place to reach how you’d like the world to be; an aspiration turns into an identity.

     What unfolded for Coltrane after the illumination of his heroes, was his wish, one could also say a call, to create a sound, a music, (a writing) that had nothing to do with anyone but himself; his own soulful expressions, like a poet’s original poem, like copal’s medicine.

     This virtual poem-making class, for beginning or seasoned poets, will include quotes on craft from musicians and poets who share the same dance of creativity in composition. Musicians like Thelonius Monk, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, and Charlie “Bird” Parker will give strong words about craft in music. Singers Billie Holiday, Nancy Wilson, and Joan Baez will talk from experience on the importance of story in composition. Poets Pablo Neruda, Audre Lord, Joy Harjo, Yusef Komunyakaa, Robert Bly, Jane Hirshfield, and Adrienne Rich will parallel the experience, and magic of the musicians and singers.

     Is there some mystery about the similarities in craft with music and poetry? Is there some unspoken synthesis, some magical light that allows music and poetry to transform the writer, the listener? When sounds inspire story, informs, warns, or soothes the listener, what is the craft that occurs? Find out of your original poem, composed in this class in a Container of respect, the bedrock of Jim’s classes, answers those questions.

     Film clips of musicians and poets, links of instrumental music, poetry prompts, and a syllabus with a bibliography of poetry resources are included with the fee of attending this class. This combination of resources, including generous writing time, will move your pen across the page as you compose your two original poems; our immediate goals of this class.  Then come write and create poetry with Jim on July 20th at 1:00 PM.

    Copy and paste the link at the top of this course description to register and paste in your browser.

     If you are looking for a critique group this is not the class for you. This class, as are all Jim’s classes, is taught in a Container of safety and respect. After you sign up using the above link to pay the fee, Jim will then e-mail the class syllabus to you after Writers, Ink forwards your e-mail address to him the day before the class on Saturday, July 19, 2025. You will receive your class syllabus with a bibliography. You will also receive the Zoom ID link to this class when you receive your syllabus.

     Jim asks that you tune in to the class meeting room 5 minutes before class in case of difficulty navigating the Zoom numbers or you experience any internet problems. Call him at 760 802-2449 if you have any problems entering the class.

     Jim Moreno is a teaching artist with San Diego Writers, Ink. He also taught poetry at Arts Connection San Diego where he was voted the Residency Teaching Artist of the Year for 2016-2017. Moreno is on the Advisory Board of the Poetic Medicine Institute in Palo Alto, California and a Regional Editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual’s adult, veterans, & Native American Chapters. Moreno is the author of Dancing in Dissent: Poetry for Activism (Dolphin Calling Press, 2007). He’s co-editor with Mary Kowit and Joseph D. Milosch of Poems that Speak to Us: Selected Poems of Steve Kowit (Garden Oak Press, 2021). As co-editor with Joe Milosch, Jim’s third book, The Activists Poetry Anthology: Selected Poems for Good Trouble (Garden Oak Press, 2022) was published July 18, 2022.

     Vietnam Veteran Moreno will be providing a free virtual poetry workshop for veterans on the 2^nd Thursday, July 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM. Go to www.jimpoet.com for the Zoom link. Jim will be conducting a free poetry class for veterans and military families in person at the Don Diego VFW Post 7420 at 2:00 PM on July 26, 2025. at 2100 Logan Ave., San Diego, CA 92113.

     Jim is the host of 2^nd Sunday Jihmye Poetry Open Mic at the Spacebar Cafe & Wine Bistro in La Mesa. His podcast on Spotify entitled “Make Good Trouble”, is a society and culture adventure with political and artist interviews, & spoken word. Contact him at jimpoet@hotmail.com, www.jimpoet.com, or www.jimmorenopoetryclasses.com.