The National Association for Poetry Therapy Presents

Citizen Writers: Responsibilities in Turbulent Times

facilitated by Bart White

Workshop Description:

Using Walt Whitman’s “Democratic Vistas” as a starting point, the presenter will guide participants in reading, discussion and writing with emphasis on our role and responsibility as “citizen writers.” Discussions will spring from both “Democratic Vistas” and from selected poems that treat themes of social justice, systemic oppression, cultural resistance, environmental degradation and, finally, our ideas of “beauty.” Focus will be on the dynamic interaction between our practices as writers and as citizens tasked with, in Whitman’s words, “terrible duties.” Throughout our conversations we will speak and listen thoughtfully and respectfully to each other and strive to build a sense of community. We will sustain our new community through writing to consider beyond the workshop’s end.

About the Facilitator:

Bart White is a poet, artist and past president of Just Poets, a non-profit poetry group with 100 members. His poetry collections are The Faces We Had As Children (2014) and The Art of Restoration (2022). His latest book, Your Session Is About to Time Out, poems written during a six-month stay in Oxford, was published by FootHills Publishing in May. Along with his creative work, he loves gardening, walking and family life. Bart co-hosts The “Little” Poetry Series at the Little Theater Café. He and his wife live in Pittsford, NY.

Date:  Sunday, July 5, 2026

Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm (EDT)

Venue: Zoom

Host: Cynthia Holloway Kelvin    cynthia@poetrytherapy.org

Registration: 

           Members — $10

   Non-Members — $25

* Funds from our virtual events support our conference scholarship fund.