Poetry as Guided Meditation Retreat, with Fred LaMotte
April 22-24, 2022
ON-SITE: $330. Private room and meals.
VIRTUAL: $220
Fred LaMotte’s poems and reflections are beautiful, inviting bridges to contemplative silence and meditation. They paradoxically wake us up and comfort us at the same time.
"Poems are maps for getting lost in your heart where everyone can find you. Poems are momentary Sabbaths when eternity breaks in. These moments can heal the world." - Fred LaMotte
As the pandemic unfolded, Fred’s poems helped our Heart Centered Meditation group calm anxieties, strengthen connection to one another, and inspire a renewed reverence for life. His poetry offers a felt experience of the world we want to co-create, grounded in awe of the sacred.
Fred will be facilitating the weekend retreat via Zoom. We invite you to gather and experience Fred's poetry in community at Genesis. Or you may choose the virtual option and enjoy the retreat from the comfort of your own space.
ON-SITE Weekend Schedule
Friday, April 22
Dinner 6-7pm
Opening Session 7-8:45pm
- Introductions around the circle
- Fred sharing spiritual journey, inspirations, major thresholds
- Reflection and questions
- Poem leading into evening prayer
- Grand Silence
Saturday, April 23rd
Breakfast 8-9am
Morning Session 10:00-11:30am
Everyone bring a favorite Fred poem, or line from a Fred poem. One at a time: read it, hold a few moments of silence. Group response, what came up for you?
Lunch noon to 1pm
Afternoon Session 3pm-4:30pm
Poem Reading by Fred: each poem followed by 5 mins silent reflection and 5 minutes journaling, then invitation for responses from the group.
Dinner 6-7pm
Night Prayer 8:00-8:20pm (this will be facilitated by Genesis; you are invited to attend but you are also free not to).
- A poem followed by 20 minutes of silence.
- Grand Silence
Sunday, April 24th
8am-9am Continental Breakfast
9:30-10:30 Closing Session
10:30am Brunch and depart
SOLAR STORM, by Fred LaMotte
It is difficult for God
to let there be light
without your eyes.
That glory is your work.
Now get busy burning
yourself to ashes.
Didn’t you know?
Each photon of your body
is the whole sun.
On the tip of a dendrite
in this very thought,
a proton’s dark core
condenses the death
of a thousand galaxies
into amethyst wonder.
It is not enough
to illuminate your mind
with knowledge.
Your flesh must dance,
a wickless flame,
jump off cliffs
into the void,
drown with frogs
in an emerald
forest pool,
tangled in the fetid delight
of mud-sprung
water lilies.
You need to starve
for forty nights,
then get drunk
on a buttercup.
Life is too furious
for the merely enlightened.
A wild one needs
nakedness and victory,
a storm to ride
back into her heart-beaten
stillness.
Listen to Fred's interview on the Caravan of the Heart podcast: https://www.caravanoftheheart.com/podcast-episodes/episode/79b104fe/alfred-k-lamotte-fred-uplifting-and-awakening-poet-and-interfaith-chaplain
Alfred K. LaMotte (Fred) is the author of three volumes of poetry: 'Wounded Bud,' 'Savor Eternity One Moment At A Time,' and 'The Fire of Darkness: What Burned Me Away Completely I Became,' with Hawaiian artist Rashani Réa. Educated at Yale University and Princeton Theological Seminary, he is an interfaith college chaplain and instructor in World Religions. Fred has spent many years teaching meditation. Living near Seattle WA with his wife Anna, he loves to hike in the mountains, play tenor sax, wrestle with dogs, and gather circles for poetry and meditation.
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