Wellspring of Imagination

Wellspring of Imagination is an extensive and highly praised poetry program for high school students facilitated by teacher and storyteller Alan Cohen.

The program consists of an intensive 3-day retreat, a recital program, and a mentorship with prominent poet/teachers working on writing and presentation of poetry.

Our retreat takes place at a beautiful private lodge in the Hocking Hills State Park region near Logan, Ohio. Healthy and engaging meals are provided throughout the retreat.  

During the retreat, writing sessions are supplemented with storytelling, hikes, music, and art activities. It culminates with a public recital program for family, teachers, friends and our poetry community.

After the retreat the poet/teachers will mentor the students for the next calendar year. If enough poems are compiled by the end of that year, a book of poetry will be produced.

Our next retreat is November 12 - 14, 2026 with the recital program happening Saturday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the Logan Theater – Main Street, Logan, Ohio. Our poet/teacher are Rosemerry Trommer, Jon Lee, and Uche Ogbuji. They are joined by Alan Cohen, Evie, Adelman, Mickey Hart, Kathe Harrigan, and others to make it all happen.

Financial support comes from grants and our generous donors. Student or schools are asked to pay a portion of the cost, but scholarships are available as needed. No student will be turned away based on the cost of attending.

AMAZING OPPORTUNITY: Cherubim Aning

> CLICK HERE TO BE PART OF OUR NEXT RETREAT

WHAT OTHER STUDENTS ARE SAYING:

2025 Wellspring Student: “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend and participate in Wellspring this year. This program has been one of the highlights of my year, and I have loved to make new friends and cherish new memories. This time has sparked some serious creative thinking for me. I have created poems that I would never have thought of outside of this camp. Hearing all of the poems from these brilliant young poets has also influenced my skills. The location alone was an outstanding factor for this camp. The area that the cabin was in and the cabin itself both shattered my expectations coming into the camp. Walking into the cabin for the first time, I knew that this was a place I could comfortably call home for the time spent at Wellspring.

I thoroughly enjoyed the bonding time we spent together as a community. I especially enjoyed hiking through the trails and finding acorns along the path. I feel that this brought me closer to my peers here and inspired some great poetry. My highlight from the whole event was going out in the night with the group to see the stars. We were pleasantly surprised to also find the Northern Lights painting the night sky alongside the stars. This moment was one that every student cherished, a moment that cannot be recreated nor retold to feel the gravity of the experience.” 

2025 Wellspring Student: “Wellspring was an amazing experience, and the people were even better. I loved it with all of my heart. Going in at first I didn't know what to expect apart from the fact that I would be writing poetry. I didn't think it would be as emotional healing and transformative as it was. We didn’t only share poetry, we shared our emotions, experiences, and stories which were held together by poetry and our love for writing. Sharing all of that with everyone, especially since it was a small community was amazing. Our identities were able to bounce off of each other creating this amazing atmosphere with so many interesting people. To me the connections that i made with the people at wellspring are what made it so amazing. Just having a safe environment to pour all your heart and creativity into a poem and then being able to share it with others who are going to soak it in deeply creates an ecstatic but warm atmosphere, that I would love to experience all over again.”

> CLICK HERE TO BE PART OF OUR NEXT RETREAT