January 23
All is Write with the World: Where Nature Meets Human Nature
A Writing Playshop led by Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For centuries, poets worldwide have written about the natural world’s wonders. Thich Nhat Hanh celebrated how “water flows from high in the mountains.” Gary Snyder exulted being alive “on a mid-September morn/fording a stream/barefoot.” The Eskimos reveled in “the arch of sky and mightiness of storms.”

And what about you? You know what it’s like to stand beneath a night sky so clear that you want to sing to the stars. You have been humbled by snowstorm or flood.  

Why not write about it? When we enter the natural world with a pen in our hand, we automatically heighten our senses. It helps us to hunger for detail and thereby better pay attention. Instead of passing the wild rose bush growing abruptly out of a rock, we note it and perhaps find a metaphorical echo in our own lives. A pen can be like a magic meaning making wand: Instead of merely observing the landscape, we interact with it and begin to find resonance.

Oh, but you’re not a poet? No excuse. Anyone can write. You’ve written grocery lists? Some of the best poems are list poems. To write a poem is simply taking the time to engage with the world, be alive to the moment, gather images and then explore what the images have to say about your life.

In this six-hour workshop, we’ll read many poems, write a lot, share our work, and discuss the mysteries that make it so wonderful and terrible to be alive.

For more information or to register, visit weehawkenarts.org or call 970-318-0150.

January 31
Jane Crown’s Poetry Radio
2 p.m. pst, 3 mst,4 cst or 5 est
Rosemerry is the featured guest on Jane Crown’s wonderful poetry radio show. Check out Jane’s vast archives … so many poets to listen to! Visit www.janecrown.com for a live or recorded show.

February 19
Heartbeat in Concert
Benefit for Telluride Television
Join Rosemerry and her all-female a cappella singing group, Heartbeat, for an evening of music by local Telluride groups.

March 3
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
Wednesdays in March, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Weehawken Arts, Ridgway, Colorado

The downfall of human society, said French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, will stem from our disconnect with the world around us. More recently, Albert Einstein noted, “The field is the only reality.” Poets, too, have been exploring this concept for centuries—how do we connect the world around us? Our survival depends on the answer— all the more reason to be paying attention! In this five-week poetry discussion series we’ll read five contemporary American poets: Mary Oliver, Li-Young Lee, Jane Hirschfield, Naomi Shihab-Nye and Louise Glück, and explore how they link the external “field” with what happens inside of us—creating connections between outer landscapes and inner emotional landscapes. What kind of impact can this awareness have on our lives? How might we carry this awareness with us as we engage in the world? 

For more information or to register, visit weehawkenarts.org or call 970-318-0150.

March 4
Poets Co-op Open Mic & Featured Reader
Loveland Museum, 7- 9 p.m.
Rosemerry will be the featured reader for this monthly gathering. See www.poetscoop.org for more information. 

March 6
Poetry Workshop
Loveland, CO
Three hours, details TBA

For more information, visit www.poetscoop.org or contact colofriedman@comcast.net.

March 7
The Poets' Co-op TV Show
7 - 7:30 p.m. MST
Rosemerry will be broadcast live on CCTV54 (www.cctv54.org) in Louisville (as well as streamed live on the internet).  The show will be shown later at www.videopoetry.org .

March 10
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see March 3

March 17
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see March 3

Saturday, March 20

Writing the Path: Our goal is discovery

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Weehawken Arts, Ridgway, Colorado

What path are you on? For thousands of years, the path has been a popular metaphor for understanding our journey through life. Cavafy advises us to “pray that the road is long.” Frost suggests we “take the road less traveled by.” A.R. Ammons advocates that we “hoist our burdens, get on down the road.” How we choose to walk on our path affects all we are connected to. And are we not connected to everything? Through the practices of writing, reading and paying attention—or as Rumi would say, opening the sail—we divine who we are in the world.

This six-hour reading and writing workshop will focus on exploring the use of images and how these are used to engage with the landscape, the imagination and the reader. Through our choice of images, we frame the path we’re on. No previous writing experience necessary. For more information or to register, visit weehawkenarts.org or call 970-318-0150.

March 24
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see March 3

March 31
Holy in the Moment: A poetry discussion series on finding what matters all around us
see March 3

April 4 & 5
Stage Struck: Theatre Like You’ve Never Seen It
Old Youth Center Building, Aspen, CO
7 p.m. $15 at the door and at the Wheeler Opera House
Rosemerry joins the HudsonReed Ensemble of Aspen for two evenings of poetry, dance, music and performance of works by Claire Duntrune, Terrance McNally and Dorothy Parker. For more information, visit www. hudsonreedensemble.org

April 6
Montrose Public Library
1-2:30 p.m. 8^th grade Poetry Workshop
6:30 p.m. Reading with Beth Paulson and Mark Todd
Come celebrate National Poetry Month. For more information, contact Carol McDermott, paulmcdermott@montrose.net .

April 17
Mesa County Public Library
10 a.m.- noon Playshop: Writing the Path: Our goal is discovery
Your guides on this wondersome journey: Kim Nuzzo and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
For thousands of years, the path has been a popular metaphor for understanding our journey through life. Cavafy advises us to “pray that the road is long.” Frost suggests we “take the road less traveled by.” A.R. Ammons advocates that we “hoist our burdens, get on down the road.” How we choose to walk on our path affects all we are connected to. And are we not connected to everything? Through the practices of writing, reading and paying attention—or as Rumi would say, opening the sail—we divine who we are in the world.

This reading and writing workshop will focus on exploring the use of images and how these are used to engage with the landscape, the imagination and the reader. Through our choice of images, we frame the path we’re on. Bring your pen and paper, bring chocolate, bring your dreams and your best friend, too.  Most of all, bring your clear-witted awareness that we’re all walking on the edge of impermanence. Come to frolic with words and their sense because like thoughts they really don’t exist. No previous writing experience necessary.

2 p.m. reading, Rosemerry Trommer and Kim Nuzzo
For more information, contact Rachel Hanson, (970) 683-2437, rhanson@mcpld.org

April 24
Reading and Playshop
Steamplant Theater, Salida, CO

12:30-3:30 p.m. Walking in Two Worlds at Once: A playshop that leaps between details and dreams, led by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer & Kim Nuzzo
Chink. Chink. That’s the sound of the poem breaking open to show a bit of its heart. How do we do that? In this workshop, we’ll explore how poems can sometimes walk in two worlds at once: a world of sense memory—the world of pagers, cell phones, to do lists, robinsong, blizzard and mud; and also a world of emotional memory, a world dedicated to meaning making—the world we inhabit when we dream, imagine and feel.

What exactly will we do? Generate a kind of magical language, sometimes sounding like double-speak, language that harbors contradictions, paradoxes, contraries, Zen-like koans that challenge the brain, working along the lines of Keats’ notion of “negative capability” in which the mind may hold disparate views without any “irritable reaching after fact and reason.”  

With play and practice, reading, writing and sharing, we’ll do a little balancing act of our own, leaping from dreamworld to glittering details and back again. And again. Bring your pen and paper, bring chocolate, bring your dreams and your best friend, too.  Most of all, bring your clear-witted awareness that we’re all walking on the edge of impermanence.  Come to frolic with words and their sense because like thoughts they really don’t exist. No experience necessary.

Evening Performance with Kim Nuzzo and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
7 p.m. Steamplant Theater
Words you’re sure to hear: unspooling, wing, Buddha, green, apricot, golden. Followed by an open mic.

For more information, contact Laurie James, lauriejames8@gmail.com.

May 22
All Kettle Reading
Janet Glovinsky Gallery, Denver, CO
Time TBA

Rosemerry joins the other poets from Turkey Buzzard Press in an evening of varied voices and poetic high jinx. For more information, contact Janet at jglovinsky@yahoo.com

May 23
Nourishing Words: Reconnecting Our Lives to the Land
with your guide, orchardist and poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Denver Botanic Gardens
1-4 p.m.
When we grow our own food, we learn about cycles—dormancy, blossoming, fruiting, harvesting. We also learn humility and how to surrender control. As growers, we can choose to use concentrated vinegar or mites instead of toxic herbicides, but no one can control frost. No one can stop late season hail. And still, things grow. And sometimes, they don’t. How closely these cycles and this learning to surrender mirror the creative act.

I Have Found No Better Teaching
than May’s ripening apricots,

rose cheeked and hail pocked,
unsellable & sweetening anyway.

What happens when we choose to embrace the cycles instead of resisting them? How can we find words to nurture our connection to place and each other? How can the practice of observing the orchard, vineyard and garden help us grow as writers? So much to ripen if given the chance! In this workshop, we’ll explore how the choices we make in reading, writing and eating can nourish our connection to the land, to each other, and to our muse. Bring your pen and paper, bring chocolate, bring your dreams and your best friend, too.  Most of all, bring your clear-witted awareness that we’re all walking on the edge of impermanence.  Come to frolic with words and their sense because like thoughts they really don’t exist. No experience necessary. For more information contact Isabel Werner, 970.708.3994, Isabel.m.werner@gmail.com.

May 24
Colorado College Alumni Bookclub
6 p.m., Denver, Colorado
Tavern Uptown
Rosemerry reads from her work Holding Three Things at Once and talks poetry with other CC alums. For more information contact Isabel Werner, 970.708.3994, Isabel.m.werner@gmail.com.

June 14-23
Aesthetic Education Institute of Colorado
Denver, Colorado
Rosemerry joins other Think 360 artists in teaching teachers to find their own artist within and brainstorm ways to engage kids with the arts in the classroom.

July 21-22
Holy in the Moment: Exploring What Matters All Around Us
A poetry overnight at Alta Lakes Observatory with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Telluride, Colorado
The downfall of human society, said French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, will stem from our disconnect with the world around us. More recently, Albert Einstein noted, “The field is the only reality.” Poets, too, have been exploring this concept for centuries—how do we connect the world around us? Our survival depends on the answer— all the more reason to be paying attention! In this overnight retreat at Alta Lakes Observatory, we’ll read contemporary American poets including Mary Oliver, Li-Young Lee, Jane Hirschfield, Naomi Shihab-Nye and Louise Glück, and explore how they link the external “field” with what happens inside of us—creating connections between outer landscapes and inner emotional landscapes. We’ll go into the forests and onto the pond and make our own connections, do our own writing, and share our ideas and words. What kind of impact can this awareness have on our lives? How might we carry this awareness with us as we engage in the world?  For more information, or to register, contact Salli Russel, alta@telluridecolorado.net. And visit www.altalakes.com .

July 23
Yipperee, It’s Poetry!
Telluride Farmer’s Market
Wilkinson Public Library Noontime Children’s Series
What rhymes with sun? Fun. And that’s what we’ll have for this half-hour of word play and poetry performance. Renowned Colorado poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer will bring poems to life—from the silly to the sublime—with lots of chances for the kids to join in, too. Through poems and songs from our own culture and beyond, Rosemerry helps kids think about words as good friends. For more information, contact Elizabeth Tracey, 970-728-4519.

August 12
Ridgway Public Library
2-4 p.m.
Teen & Tween program: Making Waves

For more information, contact Elizabeth Dickerson, ridgwaylibrary@yahoo.com.