February 21, 2026 1-3pm PST
Poetry of Place: Exploring Our Notions of Home
Mecca
759 Broadway
Tacoma, WA
As writers, how do we capture a unique and expansive notion of “home?” It is often a complicated relationship, sometimes tender and nostalgic, and other times wrought with pain and longing. Poems of place offer the reader literal, symbolic, and psychological maps for how we make meaning of the world and our place in it. Join Kellie to look at and practice writing place and home. In this workshop, we will read some delicious poetry of place to inspire and provoke us to confront our stories about home. We’ll discuss how these writers use poetry of place to remember, resist, and even reimagine their relationship to home. Next, we will respond to a series of written and visual prompts to help us craft our own draft poems about the places and spaces we call home. We’ll play in the gaps and tensions between facts and feelings, community and isolation, past and future. You will be offered an opportunity to share the work you create (though not required), as well as offer generative feedback to your peers. This workshop is open to all levels of writers and creatives.
Registration required via Eventbrite here
March 14, 2026, 1:30-3pm PST
Color Stories: A Generative Poetry Workshop
Moore Branch Library
215 S 56th St
Tacoma, WA
Why so blue? There’s nothing wrong with a little white lie. Watch out, she’s seeing red!
Color has long been used as a symbol to communicate meaning, deepen creative expression, and even call humans forth toward expansive consciousness or social justice. Color can brighten our mood, signal danger, even lower our blood pressure!
Join former Tacoma Poet Laureate Kellie Richardson for an interactive workshop exploring the role and use of color in poetry and prose. In this workshop, we will read various forms - poems, song lyrics, video, visual art - to look at the many ways artists utilize color to explore memory, honor humanity, and practice magic. Participants should be prepared to discuss the readings and engage with prompts to generate or build on their own memories and experiences with color. This workshop is open to all levels of writers and creatives. You will be offered an opportunity to share the work you create (though not required), as well as offer generative feedback to your peers.
