Our Sixth Writing Retreat

Angela Knight

Our fifth trip to The Jean Noble Parsons Center for the Study of Art and Science in Lake Ann, just south of Traverse City, included five days of quiet contemplation, adventures, writing marathons, and a supportive community in which to indulge in the opportunity to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Each year teachers have a chance to hone their skills, share their practices and stories, and take joy in the company of other writers.

We wrote and shared memoirs, poems, stories, blog entries, recommendation letters, Facebook posts, postcards, and editing suggestions... anything we were inspired to write. We not only wrote at Parsons Center, we also wrote at the old insane asylum, on the beach, in the bookstore, and on the tall ship Manitou while sailing the deep blue waters of the sparkling Grand Traverse Bay. We shared our favorite books while we were sharing meals and eating ice cream at Moomer's.

This year, participants on the retreat shared their favorite prompts, building a sense of camaraderie and boosting the writers’ inspiration. Writing prompts included goals for the long weekend, My Life in 7 Stories, an autobiographical poem inspired by "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath, pet peeves, The Storymatic, Tell Tale, "21" by Patrick Rouche, and a form of structured poetry writing from Malaysia, known as a pantoum.

Some people work on projects already under construction, others finally begin to cement ideas that have been bouncing around their heads, and still others write pieces for use with their students. Reasons for taking part in the Writing Retreat are as varied as the writers who attend. Writers are encouraged to bring books, articles, games, or magazines. As we write, it's comforting to know that inspiration is as close as the nearest book - or the nearest friend.

A Partial Pantoum
by Laurie Lahti

A chance to rest and play
An opportunity to be creative
No more rushing or stressing
Time to let nature heal me.

A Parsons Center Pantoum
by Angela Knight

a five-day writing retreat
at the beginning of summer
we relax, we write, we celebrate
we are writers

at the beginning of summer
we compose ourselves into our notebooks
we are writers
with goals and ideas and hope

we compose ourselves into our notebooks
we write to see where it leads us
with goals and ideas and hopes
and meals, meanderings, marathons

we write to see where it leads us
until we leave our retreat space
and meals, meanderings, marathons,
the provisions for our pens

until we leave our retreat space
we relax, we write, we celebrate
the provisions of our pens
a five-day writing retreat