Poetry is for Everyone: Writing in Community
with Ellie Sawatzky
“Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.” — Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
Writing poetry can feel lonely or elusive. Many of us carry quiet beliefs about who poetry is for, or worry that we’re doing it “wrong.” This course takes root in a simple, radical premise: poetry is for everyone.
April is National Poetry Month, a time devoted to attention, language, and listening. In the spirit of the season, this six-week in-person course invites you into a supportive writing community where curiosity is valued over critique, and where the act of writing is approached as a practice of presence.
Drawing on elements familiar to yoga and meditation—grounding, attunement, surrender, and flow—each class offers gentle structure alongside spaciousness. Together, we will read and discuss a wide range of contemporary and classic poems, and engage in improvisational writing practices designed to help you soften self-judgment, trust your intuition, and follow the emotional intelligence of language.
Through free writing and carefully crafted prompts, we’ll practise entering a creative flow state, a place where you can say “yes” more easily, stay with what arises, and allow the poem to lead you somewhere unexpected. The intention at the heart of this class is not productivity or polish, but openness: to sensation, memory, imagination, and the wisdom that is already present within you.
This course is well-suited to beginners and experienced writers alike, especially those drawn to contemplative practices and community-based learning. No prior poetry experience is required.
Thursdays, March 26 – April 30, 2026
7:30–9:00 PM PST (in person)
$200 for 6-week course
Skills you’ll explore include:
• Unblocking creativity and working with resistance
• Writing into difficult or tender places with care
• Imagery, sound, and basic poetic forms
• Working productively with limits and constraints
• Listening for inner wisdom and embodied knowing
• Honouring your own experience as valid material
Each week includes:
• A guided grounding or settling practice
• A short poetry lesson anchored by a shared poem
• Timed writing exercises and prompts
• Optional sharing in a compassionate, consent-based space
Please bring a notebook and pen, and come prepared to write—just as you are.
About the Facilitator – Ellie Sawatzky
Ellie Sawatzky is a poet, writer, editor, and teacher living and working on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Vancouver). She is the author of the poetry collection None of This Belongs to Me (Nightwood Editions, 2021), with recent work appearing in The Walrus, EVENT, and Arc Poetry Magazine. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.
Ellie is the founder and facilitator of the Strathcona Poetry Studio, an open-hearted poetry community that supports writers at all stages through generative writing sessions, shared discussion, accountability, and a commitment to curiosity, self-expression, and mutual care. Participants in her programs have gone on to publish poetry, gain admission to programs such as the UBC MFA and SFU Writer’s Studio, and experience meaningful catharsis and healing through writing.
She is delighted to bring this same ethos of presence, permission, and community to the East Van Wisdom School.
Learn more at elliesawatzky.com and connect on Instagram @elliesawatzky.