Retreat starts Thursday with Dinner at 5:30 and ends Sunday morning

The Path of Poetry as Spiritual Practice Using poetry as a practice allows us a way in—a way to observe and discover deeper truths about the natural and spiritual worlds. Join us on this path of observation, reflection, laughter, empathy, enlightenment—and writing! No prior poetry experience is needed— this workshop will provide a way in for you. 

Poetry Moment host for WPSU-FM, assistant editor of Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, and Professor Emerita of English at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University, Marjorie Maddox has published 17 collections of poetry—including How Can I Look It Up When I Don’t Know How It’s Spelled? Spelling Mnemonics and Grammar Tricks (Kelsay Books), Seeing Things (Wildhouse), and Hover Here (Broadstone Books), as well as the ekphrastic collaborations Small Earthly Space; Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For (both with Karen Elias), and In the Museum of My Daughter’s Mind (with daughter Anna Lee Hafer www.hafer.work, and others), a 2023 Dragonfly Book Award in photography/fine arts and American Fiction Winner Award in poetry. Maddox also has published a story collection, 4 children’s books, and the anthologies Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania and Keystone Poetry (co-editor with Jerry Wemple, PSU Press). She is the great grandniece of Branch Rickey, the General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who helped Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Her middle-grade biography, A Man Named Branch: The True Story of Baseball’s Great Experiment, will be available from Sunbury Press in early 2026. For more information, see www.marjoriemaddox.com

www.marjoriemaddox.com

3:00-5:00 pm: arrival/registration

5:30 pm: dinner

7:00-8:30 pm: evening gathering and initial workshop at house conference room

8:30 am: breakfast and conversation

9:15-noon: morning discussion, exercises, and workshop at house conference room

12:30 pm: lunch and conversation

1:30-5:30 pm: free time for writing, contemplation, rest, and/or exploring the grounds

Optional centering prayer led by Sr. Ruth Ann 

5:30 pm: dinner

7:00-8:00 pm: evening writing exercises and workshop at house conference room

8:30 am: breakfast and conversation

9:15-noon: morning discussion, exercises, and workshop at house conference room

12:30 pm: lunch and conversation

1:30-5:30 pm: free time for writing, contemplation, rest, and/or exploring the grounds

Optional centering prayer led by Sr. Ruth Ann 

5:30 pm: dinner

7:00-8:00 pm: class poetry reading around the campfire

8:30 am: breakfast and conversation

10:30 am: optional Mass St. Agnes, Morrisdale. Those wishing to participate would need to  leave by 10 am.

11:00 am: clean up and departure.