Poetry Workshops

Heart to Tongue: The Poetry Workshops

The voice you’ve been waiting to hear… is your own.

A workshop in truth-telling, deep listening, and reclaiming the voice beneath the noise.

These small group sessions — never more than six — are not designed for performance.

They are not about writing “good” poetry.

They are about breaking the silence that began long ago — the silence we learned to keep in order to stay safe, to fit in, to be loved, or to disappear.

In Heart to Tongue, we write from below the surface.

We listen to the voice that has been trying to speak all our lives.

And then — gently, powerfully — we give it form.

This is deep work.

It is alchemical.

It is not therapy, but it is a return.

You don’t need to have ever written a poem before.

You only need to be willing to listen — first to yourself, and then to others.

Why Poetry, Instead of Just Writing?

Writing is like talking — it may come from the heart, but it’s also vulnerable to the same faults as speech: autopilot, filler, and repetition. We can write without truly noticing. We can say things without listening.

Poetry is different. Poetry is listening.

It’s a slowing down. A tuning-in.

Even when the words come fast, poetry moves through a deeper channel.

Where writing often speaks, poetry hears first.

It listens to the subconscious. To the body.

To the spaces between thoughts.

Poetry doesn’t just express — it unearths.

And that subtle shift — from speaking to listening — is everything.

It’s the doorway to what we didn’t know we needed to say.

Why This? Why Now?

In the space of a week, two people I heard about — one young, one older — chose to end their lives.

The bridge from heart to tongue cannot wait.

People are not being heard.

But more importantly — they’re not hearing themselves.

Or - they are watching members of their group fall in confusion.

"I was just talking to them, they were happy, why?"

It doesn't matter why now, what matters is saving who is around us, saving ourselves. Mental dis|ease has reached a crisis point. In the past, we dealt with things in a more buffered way. Now, everything is online and interconnected and nobody, I mean nobody, has got their ducks in a row.

So.

These workshops aren’t about healing the world.

They’re about helping you hear your own inner voice again — the one you drowned out for the sake of others, the one you silenced because the world told you to behave, be quiet, be less. The one that is lost in the cacophony of a noisy distracted and disjointed world.

Poetry helps you remember.

And from there, resilience begins.

Clarity follows.

And eventually — the courage to be fully seen and fully felt by others.

Why Me?

Because I’ve walked this road.

Because for years, I silenced myself to keep the peace, to stay liked, to survive.

Because I know what it is to come home to the page — again and again — and find the most honest version of myself waiting.

I’ve been writing poetry for a significant portion of my adult life. Over a decade now.

Not performance poetry. Not academic poetry. But real, raw, truth-on-the-page poetry. I wish I had known about its power when I was younger.

When you write from your heart daily, you begin to process everything via the heart rather than the brain, and what could be a truer filter for how you feel than the heart?

Eventually, it will come to the point that you not only write from the heart, you speak from the heart. And that is where the magic occurs. Because then you can help not just yourself but others.

I will teach, the best that I can, the way to write this sort of poetry. The transformative and healing kind.

The kind that catches you off guard.

The kind that breaks something open.

The kind that shows you who you are.

I also know how to hold space — softly, but without flinching.

These sessions are intense, and they’re meant to be.

But you’ll be held the whole way through.

Next Workshop: TBA | currently still trying to find a suitable date for August - watch this space)

There is no cost.

This is not a transaction. It’s an offering. A gathering.

An energetic exchange. A learning curve.

If you feel called to attend, your presence is the only requirement and your presence can be completely anonymous.

You are welcome — just as you are.

The workshop includes a downloadable writing companion + aftercare reflection sheet.

These sessions are online for now, but will later extend to in-person workshops.

To express interest, please email kate@groundwaterpublishing.com.au.

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