For years, I didn’t know that I was searching for a place to write. I had grown so distant from my creative process that I hid my own writing from myself. It certainly was not something I could bare to revise. So when I stepped outside of my comfort zone in February 2011, I entered Nashville’s, Global Education Center, which welcomed Nikky Finney through their Line Breaks Literary Reading Series to read her poetry and conduct a free writer’s workshop. Using her just released collection, Head Off and Split, Ms. Finney opened the creative doors for workshop participants by using prompts from poems and then urged those interested to continue to meet and write. In honor of the Line Breaks originator, Thandiwe Shiphrah, the Line Breaks Poetry Collective was formed and has met monthly ever since.
Patricia Alice Albrecht smiling for the camera. In the beginning, I felt like a fool. I didn’t know what I would say, what level of expertise the other poets and writers held, all kinds of defeatist thoughts snaked through my head, but I jumped out of my comfort zone and showed up.
What I found was a group of mostly women writers who decided to give themselves two hours a month to write from the depths of their lives. When we shared our writing, which was mostly in the form of poetry, my perception of the world expanded as I came to see the world through lenses other than my own. Little did I think that writing poetry, consistently, with others, could enrich my life so, but it did. I learned poetic styles of writing. I learned about new poets and writers and workshops and open mics. And I grew to care about my fellow poets, each of whom have found a place of fond importance in my heart.
What has evolved is an ever-expanding group of writers who dedicate time to nurture their self-expression through the craft of poetry. Members of the Line Breaks Poetry Collective have been invited by the Director of the Global Education Center, Ellen Gilbert, to read at various multicultural functions. As well, Thandiwe Shiphrah continues to develop the Line Breaks Series, which features poets from across the country and presents additional performance and workshop opportunities for the entire Nashville community.
What I found was a group of mostly women writers who decided to give themselves two hours a month to write from the depths of their lives. When we shared our writing, which was mostly in the form of poetry, my perception of the world expanded as I came to see the world through lenses other than my own. Little did I think that writing poetry, consistently, with others, could enrich my life so, but it did. I learned poetic styles of writing. I learned about new poets and writers and workshops and open mics. And I grew to care about my fellow poets, each of whom have found a place of fond importance in my heart.
What has evolved is an ever-expanding group of writers who dedicate time to nurture their self-expression through the craft of poetry. Members of the Line Breaks Poetry Collective have been invited by the Director of the Global Education Center, Ellen Gilbert, to read at various multicultural functions. As well, Thandiwe Shiphrah continues to develop the Line Breaks Series, which features poets from across the country and presents additional performance and workshop opportunities for the entire Nashville community.
Photo & Art Credit: Patricia Alice Albrecht I didn’t know that what I’d get in return were pieces of myself that I’d been mortgaging off to everyone else. Over the years, I’d successfully dispensed myself to family, work, and anything I’d made into an obligation that was more important than connecting to the center of myself. Call it spirit, or soul, I learned how to travel the avenue of the written word through my journal back towards my own sources of happiness.
Cover art for Domestic Disguises Since our first meeting in 2011, Line Break poets have gone on to read their poetry at a variety of venues throughout Nashville and beyond. The Nashville network of poets and poetry events has evolved and with it a greater sampling of the work produced by the women known for their participation with the Line Breaks Collective.
And this happiness, this deep feeling of connection to worlds so much larger than the ones between my ears, is a gift I want everyone to experience. For that reason, after years of writing, I suggested we record some of our poetry so that others might be encouraged and hopefully be inspired to write for their own foolish emancipation.
To give back to the Global Education Center, the Line Breaks Poetry Collective agreed to record some of their poems created within our Saturday morning meetings as an education and outreach tool for individuals, schools and groups interested in this creative process. The result is a CD compilation titled Domestic Disguises. You can hear samples of it by clicking here.
For those of you interested in joining an informal, writing group, that is dedicated to learning more about the craft and creative nuance of writing, please arrive the second Saturday each month when we meet upstairs at the Global Education Center from ten a.m. to noon. Each month, one of us is asked to lead our workshop through a series of writing prompts. By using other poems, poetic styles, images, words, and/or objects of nature, and allowing what needs to be written to come through, we are all surprised and inspired by what is written and learn from what we share. Sometimes we’ve had conference calls with poets if one of us couldn’t show up. We do our best to support and accommodate our schedules.
We are more than poets. We are a family of writers who have found common ground through poetry. We have learned to listen and critique with kindness. We have cultivated sound foundations, urging each other to write and speak her truth.
We all have big lives. Everyone wants a piece of you. If any part of your soul whispers that you reserve a portion of yourself by way of writing; if that fool needs convincing, call me, (615) 727-4432.
And this happiness, this deep feeling of connection to worlds so much larger than the ones between my ears, is a gift I want everyone to experience. For that reason, after years of writing, I suggested we record some of our poetry so that others might be encouraged and hopefully be inspired to write for their own foolish emancipation.
To give back to the Global Education Center, the Line Breaks Poetry Collective agreed to record some of their poems created within our Saturday morning meetings as an education and outreach tool for individuals, schools and groups interested in this creative process. The result is a CD compilation titled Domestic Disguises. You can hear samples of it by clicking here.
For those of you interested in joining an informal, writing group, that is dedicated to learning more about the craft and creative nuance of writing, please arrive the second Saturday each month when we meet upstairs at the Global Education Center from ten a.m. to noon. Each month, one of us is asked to lead our workshop through a series of writing prompts. By using other poems, poetic styles, images, words, and/or objects of nature, and allowing what needs to be written to come through, we are all surprised and inspired by what is written and learn from what we share. Sometimes we’ve had conference calls with poets if one of us couldn’t show up. We do our best to support and accommodate our schedules.
We are more than poets. We are a family of writers who have found common ground through poetry. We have learned to listen and critique with kindness. We have cultivated sound foundations, urging each other to write and speak her truth.
We all have big lives. Everyone wants a piece of you. If any part of your soul whispers that you reserve a portion of yourself by way of writing; if that fool needs convincing, call me, (615) 727-4432.
You can find out more about the Line Breaks Literary Reading Series that has inspired the collective, by clicking here.
Patricia Alice Albrecht’s fiction and poetry has appeared in the literary anthology, Wind Eyes, A Woman’s Reader and Writing Source, The Chrone Chronicles, Rattle, 360 Degrees-Art and Literary Review, Chest, A Magazine for Thoracic Surgeons, Calliope Magazine, Still, and Number One. A CD of poetry, A Touch of Pizzazz was recorded for fans of the internationally syndicated cartoon series, Jem & The Holograms in which she voiced the antagonist, Pizzazz. She is co-producer of Domestic Disguises, a CD of original poetry from the Line Break Collective of poets at the Global Education Center in Nashville, which was released in March 2017. She has facilitated workshops at Willow Oak Center for Arts & Learning, Springfield, TN, Tennessee Prison for Women, Poverty and the Arts, AKIVA School and an In- Service Program for teachers in Nashville. For more information, write [email protected]
Patricia Alice Albrecht’s fiction and poetry has appeared in the literary anthology, Wind Eyes, A Woman’s Reader and Writing Source, The Chrone Chronicles, Rattle, 360 Degrees-Art and Literary Review, Chest, A Magazine for Thoracic Surgeons, Calliope Magazine, Still, and Number One. A CD of poetry, A Touch of Pizzazz was recorded for fans of the internationally syndicated cartoon series, Jem & The Holograms in which she voiced the antagonist, Pizzazz. She is co-producer of Domestic Disguises, a CD of original poetry from the Line Break Collective of poets at the Global Education Center in Nashville, which was released in March 2017. She has facilitated workshops at Willow Oak Center for Arts & Learning, Springfield, TN, Tennessee Prison for Women, Poverty and the Arts, AKIVA School and an In- Service Program for teachers in Nashville. For more information, write [email protected]
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