The Sanctuary of a Page

For many writers, the page becomes a place of refuge. Writing can help us feel safe, understand ourselves, hold on to important memories, and push back against the things that try to silence or limit us.

In this workshop, we will explore the idea of the poem as sanctuary. We will talk about how refuge, ritual, and resistance may already be showing up in our writing, even when we do not realize it. We will also look at metaphor as a tool for expressing thoughts and feelings that can be difficult to explain directly.

This session will include a brief discussion and an interactive writing component.

Join Jacqui Swift in this upcoming workshop!

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Jacqui Swift is a writer, educator, and learning designer based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Sewanee and has spent more than a decade teaching English, literature, and creative writing in college and community settings. Her work is deeply interested in language as refuge, self-making, memory, and the imaginative spaces we create to survive and understand our lives. She has facilitated writing experiences for learners of many ages and has worked with the Tennessee Arts Commission to support arts education across the state. In both her writing and teaching, she is especially drawn to the moment when metaphor helps a writer discover something they understood before they had the language to name it.  

MEETING INFORMATION

This program will be presented at our upcoming PST meeting, to be held September 12, 2026, from 2:00-4:00 pm Eastern / 1:00-3:00 pm Central via Zoom. Members will be provided a link a few days prior. If you are interested in learning more about PST, check out our website. If you’d like to attend our meeting as a guest, contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com.