What shall be the enclosed garden inside your life? What can be the fountain there, tireless in bounty? What can nourish the peace, the solitude to carry you safely through a difficult world? Might we find ways, by writing, to cultivate the welcoming silence that has been Santa Sabina as we depart her sanctuary? In this retreat, we will write a field guide to our own sacred spaces, as memories are kindled here—how the garden, the library, the fountain, the hermit's hut, and other elements here bring forth stories from our lives. We will compose a home ground for the soul secrets we carry forth. Join Kim Stafford, a long-time friend of Santa Sabina, for one last time in this sacred space.
Kim Stafford is an Emeritus Professor at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. He writes, teaches, and travels to raise the human spirit through poetry. Founder of Northwest Writing Institute in 1986, he has published a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Muses Among Us: Eloquent Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer’s Craft and 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared. His most recent book is the poetry collection As the Sky Begins to Change (Red Hen Press, 2024). He has taught writing in dozens of schools and community centers, and in Scotland, Italy, Mexico, and Bhutan. In 2018, he was named Oregon’s 9th Poet Laureate for a two-year term.