Poet, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, joins Raghu to discuss poetry as a spiritual path, meeting the blank page with trust, and the joyful daily practice of giving it away.
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lives in Southwest Colorado with her husband and two children, served as the third Colorado Western Slope Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and was a finalist for Colorado Poet Laureate (2019). Her poetry has appeared in O Magazine, on A Prairie Home Companion and PBS New Hour, in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry, in back alleys and on river rocks. Rosemerry is the co-host of Emerging Form, a podcast on creative process; and teaches and performs poetry for addiction recovery programs, hospice, mindfulness retreats, women’s retreats, teachers and more. For more info, poetry books, and daily poetry offerings please visit, WordWoman.com
“I’ve been lucky enough to move, in a daily way, into a more embodied way of being. Especially through a poetry practice, that by writing poems everyday for the last 15 years, it’s changed everything about the way that I meet the world, and everything about the way that I show up.” – Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Meeting the Blank: Play, Truth, & Trust
Invited by Raghu to share her poetic beginnings, Rosemerry recalls writing poems at a young age as a play practice, inspired by reading Shell Silverstein with her grandmother. Marking play as her entrance point into language, she outlines her love of poets who meet language in a fresh way, engaging the world with pleasure. Explaining how she used to be so scared of a blank page or a bad job, she describes the pleasure and thrill of engaging in truthful poetry daily, allowing and trusting something will come through.
“I had a history of falling in love with poets who met language in a fresh way, and used language as a way, not just to express emotion, but to engage in the world with pleasure. I think the reason that I still write everyday is because there is—no matter how difficult, no matter how painful the subject is—there is still this pleasure in showing up and seeing what happens.” – Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
For another poetry steeped podcast, join Alison Luterman and Jack Kornfield as they trade readings and share meanings, on Ep. 95 of Heart Wisdom
The Big Conversation: The Joy of Giving It Away (16:14)
After Raghu tips everyone to Rosemerry’s Daily Dose of Poetry offering, she explains the joy of giving it away, and how she remains in resonance through opening up the big conversation through poetry.
“I know the depth of the conversation that happens across continents, across centuries, and how poetry fosters this ability to know each other, to know what it means to be alive and to ignite these epiphanies in us. It’s just thrilling to be part of that big conversation.” – Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Mind meets blank: Merge spaciousness, mindfulness, & meditation, with creative ventures, on Ep. 20 of Creativity, Spirituality, & Making a Buck
Poetry as a Spiritual Path (36:01)
After Rosemerry shares a poem on quieting fear through inviting in compassion, gratitude, kindness, and vulnerability; Raghu illuminates the connections between the intrinsic wisdom her poetry articulates, and the deep wisdom teachings he came in contact with during his travels East over the years, studying lineages and practicing with great beings. Through the lens of this connection, Raghu invites Rosemerry to share how poetry is a spiritual path to inner knowledge.
“It wasn’t so much anymore about the page, but about how it changed the way I was meeting the world. Over time, I came to these four promises that I like to recommend to anybody who would like to start a writing practice: 1.) I will write 2.) It doesn’t have to be good, but it has to be true. 3.) I can’t know the ending when I start. 4.) I will share that poem.” – Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Uncover life’s beauty through poetry and art, as Jack Kornfield merges poetry and spirituality, on Ep. 87 of Heart Wisdom
Images via WordWoman.com and Cristina Conti