Best-selling author, speaker, and writing guide Roger Housden is one of the Living Spiritual Teachers profiled on Spirituality & Practice. He has received six S&P Book Awards for books on creativity and the arts. We at S&P are also big fans of his "Ten Poems" books with poetry to open your heart, to set you free, to last a lifetime, to change your life again and again, to say goodbye, and for difficult times. He calls himself a lifelong student of the beauty of the word, a quality that shines through both his choices of poems and his commentaries on their meanings.
For five years, we asked Roger to curate a collection of poems for daily delivery during January. We figured this would be a great way to start the year, and many of our e-course regulars agreed. This year, instead of presenting a new course, we want to remind you of the existing ones. They are all available in our on-demand system, so you can do them on your own pace. In keeping with the history of these poems and Roger's commentaries on them being the source of reflection for a New Year, we suggest you schedule the course to begin on January 1 and to be delivered daily.
- Poetry to Lift Your Spirits (31 emails): This e-course focuses on poems that celebrate an upwelling of life and spirit, waking us up to our possibilities. Poets featured include Rainer Maria Rilke, Denise Levertov, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, David Whyte, Mary Oliver, Jelaluddin Rumi, Wendell Berry, and many others. Subscribe.
- Poetry to Nourish the Soul (31 emails): Receive a month's worth of poems that will deepen your sense of peace, balance, love, and joy. Poetry often opens our eyes to what is most authentic and nourishing. Poets featured include Marie Howe, C.P. Cavafy, Ellen Bass, Thomas Merton, Kabir, Jack Gilbert, Pablo Neruda, and many others. Subscribe.
- Poetry in Quest of Courage (31 emails): The poems chosen for this e-course speak of the heartbreaking realities we face and yet offer an element of hope, resilience, love, gratitude, and recognition of the human spirit's ability to endure. Poets featured include Rainer Maria Rilke, Maya Angelou, W. H. Auden, May Sarton, Mark Nepo, W. S. Merwin, David Ignatow, and many others. Subscribe.
- Poetry to Renew Your Heart (21 emails): This e-course presents poems that explore the secret of life that allows us to rise again when circumstances have pressed us down. Poets featured include Jelaluddin Rumi, Gregory Orr, Susan Frybort, Wislawa Szymborska, William Stafford, Elias Amidon, Peter Levitt, and many others. Subscribe.
- Poetry to Transform Your Life (31 emails): The poems in this e-course will transport you into a world full of awe, wonder, marvel, deep sorrow, or joy. They have been chosen for their ability to awaken you to fresh ways of seeing both yourself and the world. Poets featured include Mary Oliver, Galway Kinnell, Naomi Shihab Nye, James Wright, Leonard Cohen, Czeslaw Milosz, Jean Pierre de Causadde, Derek Walcott, and many others. Subscribe.
