A Global Poetry Open Mic
When: Wednesday, April 22 @ 11:00 AM PT
During this Poetry Month, the Charter for Compassion invites you to join us for Voices of Compassion: A Global Poetry Open Mic — a gathering created not as a performance stage, but as a listening circle.
Poetry has always been a quiet force for transformation. It names injustice. It holds grief. It protects hope. It gives language to what is breaking — and what is still possible. In moments of uncertainty, poetry helps us remain tender without becoming passive, courageous without becoming hardened.
This session is an opportunity to bring your voice into a shared global space. You are warmly invited to:
- Read an original poem you have written
- Share a poem that has shaped or steadied you
- Offer a brief reflection on why it resonates at this moment
Each reader will have up to three minutes, ensuring that many voices can be heard.
After several readings, we will move into small breakout circles for deeper listening and reflection — a chance to speak not in debate, but in response.
- This is not a competition.
- There will be no critique.
- Only attentive listening and appreciation.
- Whether you choose to read or simply to listen, your presence matters.
You may wish to visit our Poetry Padlet Slide Show ahead of time, select a poem that feels like a beacon in your life right now, and bring it with you. Perhaps you will also write a response — a line, a stanza, a new poem born from what you encountered.Compassion becomes action when we allow words to move us — and when we allow ourselves to be heard.In a world that often rewards volume, we are practicing depth.
In a culture that often fragments, we are practicing belonging.
Join us.
Bring your voice.
Bring your listening.
Bring a poem that helps us remember who we are to one another.
