We live in a time of always more, always faster, where what’s new insists on itself as what’s most important. But outside this frenzy are questions that demand slow pondering, queries old as human consciousness: Why are we here? Is there a God? How do we live knowing our lives have a definite deadline? What does it mean to pray? The long history of human engagement with these ideas, the striving after answers, is best recorded in religious texts. There, we find the stories and rituals, commandments and prohibitions, that, whether or not we believe in a faith of our own, have shaped the world in which we live. And, as a model for our own writing, we’ll be delving into the work of writers who’ve grappled with these ideas and texts, poets like Yehuda Amichai, Ada Limón, Kazim Ali, Jericho Brown, Eleanor Wilner, Marie Howe, and many more.

Intended for writers of all levels, each week will be a blend of close readings, spirited exchange, contemplative meditations, and generative exercises. In this workshop, we’ll add our voices to a conversation that stretches across geography and time.