Whether you are religious or believe in the sacred, our turbulent time is a fitting one to write poems as prayers, invocations, blessings, odes and litanies. They can carry our deepest longings. Poems of prayer are often more powerful when they contain praise and lamentation. Odes, praise poems and litanies can hold anger as well as curses. Litany (a series of petitions), and anaphora (the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses), can give resonance to our poems.

Presented by the International Women’s Writing Guild as part of their Summer Picnic for Writers series.