Restorative Poetry Rights & Responsibilities

The right to use home language and expression that feels natural and useful

The right to write a poem that is long or short

o spoken, written or silent,

o misspelled or spell checked

o any topic is not too big or small

o rhyme or don’t rhyme-doesn’t matter

o written on a napkin, check statement, notebook, in a phone, laptop or elsewhere

The right to be true to yourself

The right to make up words and be creative

The right to free write or use a particular form

The right to borrow words from a poem or quote of inspiration

The responsibility to care for other’s anonymity

The responsibility to allow others to be themselves

The responsibility to listen as much or more than you share

The responsibility to share your gifts and seek to understand other’s gifts

The responsibility to reread and revise your poem, take out and replace overused phrases

The responsibility to give credit to borrow ideas or phrases form other writers, cultures, places, etc...

The responsibility to keep dreaming, hoping, encouraging, growing, expanding