Remote but Connected: Navigating the Storms of our Lives Through Poetry & Story
I am offering this poem to you,
since I have nothing else to give.
Keep it like a warm coat
when winter comes to cover you,
or like a pair of thick socks
the cold cannot bite through,
I love you,
I have nothing else to give you,
so it is a pot full of yellow corn
to warm your belly in winter,
it is a scarf for your head, to wear
over your hair, to tie up around your face,
I love you,
Keep it, treasure this as you would
if you were lost, needing direction,
in the wilderness life becomes when mature;
and in the corner of your drawer,
tucked away like a cabin or hogan
in dense trees, come knocking,
and I will answer, give you directions,
and let you warm yourself by this fire,
rest by this fire, and make you feel safe
I love you,
It’s all I have to give,
and all anyone needs to live,
and to go on living inside,
when the world outside
no longer cares if you live or die;
remember,
I love you.
Jimmy Santiago Baca, "I Am Offering This Poem" from Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems. Copyright © 1990 by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Reprinted by permission of Jimmy Santiago Baca
Welcome
The National Association for Poetry Therapy, Inc. (NAPT) is a nonprofit, international, and interdisciplinary organization promoting growth and healing through written language, symbol, and story. Members represent a wide range of professional experience, schools of therapy, educational affiliations, artistic disciplines, and other fields of training in both mental and physical health. In addition to its professional membership, NAPT welcomes all people who are interested in the power of the healing word. We hope you will be able to learn from the many workshops, lectures, and informal networking opportunities available. We trust you will be inspired to absorb, reflect, and write. Please visit us on Facebook or www.poetrytherapy.org to contact the NAPT Board and for more information about NAPT.
I wish to thank the entire Board for being able to work together to ensure that NAPT grows and thrives as we move into the future. I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to work with such a dynamic and talented group of individuals. I also want to thank all the pre- and post-workshop, regular workshop, and special events presenters for help shaping this year’s conference program. I particularly want to thank Barbara Kriesberg and Marianela Medrano for their support, dedication and leadership as NAPT Vice-President and President, but most of all for their unwavering kindness and friendship.
Catherine Tanguis, MA, NBCT, CAPF
Conference Chair
About registration.
About our conference.