Tell Your Story Through Poetry

A few years ago, I took a memoir writing class, thinking it would help me tell my story. But I quickly realized it was too triggering. Writing in full narrative detail forced me to confront moments of my past that I wasn’t ready to relive. I felt overwhelmed, stuck, and disconnected from the part of myself that just wanted to express my pain, not relive every detail.

That’s when I found my way back to poetry. Poetry was what helped me as a teen to process my feelings and to feel safe. Poetry allowed me to reflect on memories without being consumed by them, and to speak to the different versions of myself with compassion. Poetry allowed me to hold my story in fragments, images, and lines that resonated with truth, without forcing a full narrative I wasn’t ready for. As a result, I wrote and published my debut collection, Almost Loved.

I’ve taken everything I’ve learned and created a poetry workshop, “Using Poetry to Reconcile with Our Past Selves.” This workshop is designed for anyone who wants to tell their story but finds memoir overwhelming or triggering. Broken into four sessions. We will meet for an hour virtually for four weeks to:

• Explore the different selves we carry through our lives

• Write poems that reflect our past, present, and evolving selves

• Create a dialogue between our past and present selves

• Arrange these poems into a story with a beginning, middle and end.

  
  

Poetry became my bridge to understanding my past. It allowed me to confront pain without being consumed by it, to express vulnerability without shame, and to transform fragments of memory into something meaningful.

If memoir feels too heavy, or if you’ve struggled to find a safe way to tell your story, this workshop is for you. It’s a space to write, reflect, and honor every version of yourself — one poem at a time.

In partnership with Alexandra Writers' Centre. Register for the workshop here.