Last Wednesday, I decided to do a performance-based workshop with my common art poetry group, using Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”. We mixed things up with some acting exercises, which had everyone laughing and really brought the poem to life. It was such a great reminder of how performance can transform poetry into something so dynamic and engaging. The energy in the room was contagious! Continue reading
Tag Archives: poetry
Interviews with Superheros
Last week, I had the chance to try out my superhero interviews, and I’m happy to report that they went really well! I ended up conducting four interviews, which felt like a great way to explore and practice my therapeutic skills in this setting. Since each person interprets the questions differently this format really gives me an opportunity to guide them through the conversation. It’s a mix of reflecting back what they’ve shared, offering new words or ways to summarize their experiences, and asking for clarification or digging deeper into certain themes. It feels like a collaborative process in which we’re both learning and discovering.
One of the things I loved most was that every superhero I spoke to had a power that was rooted in helping or healing others—whether through music, seeing people’s truths, transforming darkness into light, or offering protection through faith. Considering how much passion, kindness, and community-mindedness I’ve witnessed in this space, I’m not surprised but still find myself awed and inspired.
Since I find the superhero theme naturally lends itself to storytelling, I can’t help but feel creative potentials percolating in my mind. Imagine an Avengers-style crossover of common art superheroes, here to bring the world towards healing and wholeness. That’s a story I could get invested in.
As for this week, I’m diving back into my poetry group. While it’s not superhero-themed, I’m hoping some of the creative energy from the interviews will carry over. I’ve planned some fun acting exercises to incorporate. I’m excited to see whether they spark creativity and engagement in the group.
This Friday is Boston Warm’s first movie day of the year! I’ll be leading a discussion after we watch “West Side Story”, which offers so much to unpack. I’m looking forward to exploring themes that feel especially relevant to our community, such as division and unity, discrimination and belonging, hope and despair, and more. The movie will begin at 9:00am, so feel free to join us if you can!
-– Mary Schwabenland, 26 Feb. 2025
Poetry Exercises
Update on last week’s poetry group: it went well, although not exactly as I had expected. I started the group off with a warm-up exercise called a locogram. This activity is like a multiple-choice question, but you have to physically move to a spot in the room that represents your answer. I started off with four words taken from Mary Oliver’s poem “The Journey.” These words were house, mend, stones, and voice. I placed the words on the floor in a large circle and asked the participants to move to whatever word they felt most drawn to and then explain why. Then I repeated the exercise with whole stanzas from “The Journey”. Continue reading
Haiku
As we approach the end of the year and the end of my first semester with common cathedral, I am feeling reflective on my experience with this community and everything they have taught me. I decided for this week’s post I would challenge myself to write a collection of haikus about my experience thus far. Haiku is not my go-to poetry format, but I find it helpful when I want to condense a lot of feelings and ideas into a succinct space.
The Way It Is
I tried something a little different with my embodied-poetry group at common art this week. We read a poem called “The Way It Is” by William Stafford, which features the prominent line: “There’s a thread you follow. It goes among / things that change. But it doesn’t change.” Continue reading
Bible Study
Last Friday I stayed for common cathedral’s Bible study after Boston Warm. I’ve been a bit hesitant to join Bible study because of some negative associations it brings up for me about my own religious upbringing, but lately I’ve been trying to approach it with a new perspective. I decided to look at the Bible study group as a way to not only continue to spend time with this community and practice therapeutic communication skills, but also as a sort of assessment time to learn about the spiritual perspectives and themes that community members are currently dealing with. Continue reading
Talent Show
I am feeling excited for common cathedral‘s talent show this week, although a bit nervous to see how it goes, since there are many unknowns: whether or not everyone who signed up will show up, how big the audience will be, if the tech that people need for their acts will work or malfunction, and any other number of things I can’t predict. I am trying to practice flexibility and trust myself to respond to whatever comes. Continue reading
Welcome our new Drama Therapy intern!
Mary Schwabenland
Hello! I am Mary, the new Drama Therapy intern at common cathedral / Emmanuel Church. I am a few weeks into the internship now and have really been enjoying getting to know the community members. One of my goals for this internship is to aid community members in the creation of meaningful expressive art experiences and projects. The first of which is our upcoming talent-show fundraiser, which was the idea of a long-time community member. We have about 14 sign-ups of varying talent acts, and I am very excited to see what everyone brings.
Doing the Next Brave & Compassionate Thing
Proper 12B, 28 July 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
- 2 Samuel 11:1-15. As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.
- Ephesians 3:14-21. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
- John 6:1-21. Ego eimi mey phobeisthe.
O God of mercy, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
Today we hear the two stories that were left out of last week’s Gospel lesson from Mark. For some reason, the lectionary assigns the Gospel reading for today from John’s version. If you’d like a homework assignment, read all six feeding stories in the four Gospels side by side! Given how very different the four Gospels are, the versions of these stories are remarkably similar. Mark’s version is characteristically a little rougher, John’s is more polished. Mark’s Jesus is in the thick of conflict and confusion all along; for John, Jesus’ feet never really touched the ground. The story of Jesus feeding a huge, hungry crowd is one of the most significant stories about Jesus. It’s rare that a miracle story appears in all four Gospels. I still think that the lectionary should have stuck with Mark this week, though, because it’s complicated and confusing to mix and match Gospel stories. It means shifting gears rather wildly from one literary world to another, each with different assumptions, strategies, purposes, and even audiences. [1] Some may wonder whether the repetition and similarities of the feeding stories make them more likely memory and less likely metaphor. I don’t know; but for me, the stories are equally powerful either as memory or metaphor. Continue reading
If not for love, what are you for?
Lent 2B, 25 February 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
- Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16. Then Abram fell on his face.
- Romans 4:13-25. Hoping against hope.
- Mark 8:31-38. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
O God all sufficient, grant us the wisdom, the strength and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
Last week, on the first Sunday in Lent, we learned that the spirit of holiness can drive a very hard bargain. Jesus, perhaps, in order to understand his mission, was pushed hard into the wild for a quarantine. Then, upon hearing of John the Baptist’s imprisonment and picking up where John had left off, Jesus proclaimed the good news of the realm of the Holy One and taught that the time is now to turn around (or, to change your channel to see and understand that love is the only way). This week we get a glimpse of why the good news was so dangerous. Continue reading