Winter 2005 Workshops at Writers & Books

Poetry

Celebrating Black History Month: African-American Themes in Poetry

• WA5-P33
• Four Saturdays, February 5–26, 11 am–1 pm
• $72 W&B members / $79 general public
• Instructor: Akua Lezli Hope

The saga of Africans in America offers an inexhaustible wealth of possibilities for poetic exploration.

Each meeting, participants will consider historic African-American themes and a canonical poem by an African-American poet on this theme. These themes include resistance to bondage and enslavement, self-determination, freedom, double/multi-consciousness, and envisioning a new identity.

Students will use readings and class discussion as prompts for generating new poems in this unique workshop that combines reading, learning, and writing.

Check our Calendar of Events for Akua’s reading on Tuesday evening, April 26!

Beginning Poetry

• Beginning Poetry 1
• WA5-P15
• Four Tuesdays, January 18 – February 8, 11:30 am–1 pm
• Instructor: Karen vanMeenen
• $62 W&B members / $79 general public

and

• Beginning Poetry 2
• WA5-P17
• Four Tuesdays, March 8–29, 11:30 am –1 pm
• Instructor: Karen vanMeenen
• $62 W&B members / $79 general public

For those who want to begin a more formalized practice of writing poetry, but not lose that spark that some extensive academic study of poetry challenges, this is the course for you.

With the instructor’s guidance, students will explore the basic elements of poetry (e.g., imagery, word choice, line breaks, symbolism, rhythm, voice) through exploration of published poetry, group discussion, and in-class work-shopping of the poems produced by participants.

This will be a safe and productive environment for you and your writing. Writing will be encouraged both during class and outside of it, especially during the three-week break between the two sessions.

Please note, you do NOT have to sign up for both Poetry 1 and Poetry 2 to fully appreciate either of these workshops individually!

In Your Own Words: Poetry Workshop

• WA5-P34
• Eight Wednesdays, March 9 – April 27, 7– 9 pm
• $139 W&B members / $159 general public
• Instructor: Anne Coon

For Walt Whitman, poetry was his “barbaric yawp.” For Emily Dickinson, it was her “letter to the world.” Dudley Randall said emphatically, “A poet is not a jukebox.” What is poetry for you?

In this workshop, for intermediate and advanced poets, the instructor will focus more intensely on what makes your poetry unique. This workshop will provide an open, supportive setting in which to develop your own subject matter, voice, and style.

Participants will be expected to write and bring in new poems each week. Class time will be spent reading and discussing the participants’ poems, as well as selections from modern poets, some well known and other less familiar.

(Welcome to the Machine is a great primer for this course. Register for both at the same time and receive an additional 10% discount on both workshops.)

The Poetry in Our Experience Scrapbook

• WA5-P23
• Six Mondays, April 11 – May 6, 1–3 pm
• $108 W&B members / $119 general public
• Instructor: Ron Bailey

We all carry dozens of poems around with us all the time. They are a part of our experiences, our memories. Richard Hugo calls them “triggers”—those light bulb moments that get a poem going. It is our job to give them life. In this course, reflection upon life experience will be at the heart of the creative process.

A piece of student writing will be needed each week, with copies for everyone. In-class activity will include reading work aloud, and giving and receiving supportive, helpful feedback.

Welcome to the Machine: An Introduction to Poetry

• WA5-P37
• Six Wednesdays, January 19 – February 23, 7–9 pm
• $99 W&B members / $119 general public
• Instructor: Jeanette Karhi

William Carlos Williams once wrote that “poetry is a machine made of words.”

Throughout this course participants will examine each gear of “the machine” and learn how to assemble its parts. Explore such basic elements as line, form, sound, word choice, imagery, and metaphor, keeping in mind their effects on the poem as a whole.

Students will flex their muscles and get their juices flowing with writing exercises in and out of class. Be prepared to share your work with others and help create a supportive and constructive environment. Participants should bring several copies of one poem to the first class.

(In Your Own Words is a great follow-up to this course. Register for both at the same time and receive an additional 10% discount on both workshops.)

Check our Calendar of Events for Jeanette’s reading on Tuesday evening, April 26!

An Introduction to Writing the Narrative Poem

• WA5-P36
• One Saturday, January 22, 10 am–2 pm
• $39 W&B members / $44 general public
• Instructor: Patricia Roth Schwartz

Explore the flexibility and richness of this unique form that combines narrative with the hallmarks of lyric poetry—brevity, sound, imagery, and style—to create a story-line complete with characterization.

Learn from the narrative poems of Robert Browning, Robert Frost, Joan Murray, Ralph Black, William Heyen, Suzanne Owens, Lola Haskins, and others. Participants will write a narrative poem of their own working from a series of in-class exercises.

(A Story Well-Versed is a great follow-up to this course. Register for both at the same time and receive an additional 10% discount on both workshops.)

A Story Well-Versed

• WA5-P37
• Two Saturdays, April 2 & 9, 10 am–1 pm
• $54 W&B members / $59 general public
• Instructor: Sarah Freligh

A narrative poem tells (or implies) a story by combining poetic devices such as rhythm and rhyme with fictional elements such as character, setting, and plot.

In the first session of this two-week class, students will read and discuss some examples of narrative poems with an eye toward technique and embark on their own narratives through guided exercises. Participants will workshop their poems-in-progress during the second session.

(An Introduction to Writing the Narrative Poem is a great primer for this course. Register for both at the same time and receive an additional 10% discount on both workshops.)

Trying to Rise: Advanced Poetry

• WA5-P38
• Five Thursdays, January 20 – February 17, 2–4 pm
• $99 W&B members / $110 general public
• Instructor: David Michael Nixon

This workshop is designed to allow experienced poets to give each other honest, helpful criticism in an attempt to strengthen their poems. Exposure to each other’s work will also provide an atmosphere of inspiration, creativity, and learning.

Content and the technical aspects of free and formal verse will be a natural part of saying what works or fails in the poems under discussion. Participants should submit two unpublished poems upon registration, which will be critiqued in class.

(In Your Own Words is a great companion to this course. Register for both at the same time and receive an additional 10% discount on both workshops.)

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