| Sacred
and Creative

The Sacred and Creative function within ELC, exists to promote a greater
awareness and appreciation of the spiritual dimensions of life. The emphasis
on creativity corresponds, in that such an awareness is only deepened by
participation.
Hence we host a quarterly Poets Corner, hold meditation workshops, run an
Artist in Residence program each year and regularly have forums where a guest
speaker will share from both a knowledgeable and experiential back ground.
There is no expected nor imposed belief system associated with Sacred and
Creative events. We seek to honour where people are at and to jointly learn
from that perspective.
Poets’ Corner
Poets’ Corner is a vibrant, creative and fulfilling program of
ELC.
The group was formed in 2003, following the visit of Professor Mark Burrows.
He inspired us by skilfully enabling us to experience the power, beauty and life-enriching
qualities of poetry. He introduced many poets, including the American Mary Oliver,
whose poetry many of us now treasure.
At first, we looked at the work of a particular poet, e.g. Les Murray, or poetry
with a particular theme. At other meetings, we invited someone to share poetry
which was special to them. There has always been time for participants to read
their own poetry.
The next phase was to invite local poets to share their poetry with us. This
has been a very enriching experience for both the group and the poets. Although
poets have opportunities to read their poetry, they have relished the chance
to talk about their life experiences, sources of inspiration and creative process.
Inspired by their stories and their work, many of our group, who have never written
poetry before, are now writing wonderful poems. Guest poets have included Jude
Aquilina, Louise Nicholas, David Ades, Mike Ladd and Jules Koch. One poet has
described Poets’ Corner as “the best gig in town”!
Poets’ Corner continues to be a very innovative ELC program, and we are
now meeting 6 times a year, on the fourth Monday of alternate months, that is,
January, March, May, July, September and November.
A poetry anthology
will be published in 2010. Our editors are eagerly awaiting contributions. If
you wish to submit a poem for this anthology, please forward to John Pfitzner.
His email is johnpfitzner@bigpond.com Submissions are not restricted to
members of Poets’ Corner.

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