Poetry Workshops
 | Kevin Young - Week 1 In this workshop we will examine memory and history through the lens of childhood. We will start with ancestral memories, looking at family stories as a source of inspiration, then move through our own childhood memories -- or amnesias -- to explore poetry's place in them. Topics might include birth, childhood losses, or other forms of transition. Last, we will consider writing for children, exploring how childhood verse, nursery rhymes, fairy tales and more might affect our own lyrics, and their relation to song. The result will be poems invigorated by complex experience and plain speech, by looking back in order to find new directions and forms for our poetry. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of 1-2 of your own poems to discuss in class as time allows. |
 | Erin Belieu - Week 2 NOTE AFTERNOON TIME FOR THIS WORKSHOP: Writing a poem consists of two major acts -- finding an approach or point-of-view that really makes something worth the telling, and shaping that initial utterance into distinct and vibrant language. Even if you have never tried writing poetry before, this workshop will help you find what’s worth the telling, develop meaningful strategies for writing it down, and then revising it. Our goal is to give you the tools you’ll need to keep finding and growing your poems when you’re out of the classroom. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of 1-2 of your own poems to discuss in class as time allows. |
 | Neil Shepard - Week 2 M-F 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. What makes a poem attractive enough for publication in the top literary magazines? What makes a collection of poetry sparkle enough to win a first-book poetry competition? We’ll address these and other questions of poetic substance and style in our advanced workshop. The instructor will provide the practiced eye of a long-time literary magazine editor, offering extensive comments on your poems so they’ll consistently attract the attention of publishers. During the course of the workshop, we’ll do extensive critiques of three of your poems in the classroom, and you will receive more general comments on up to three more poems. Admission to this workshop is by advance submission. Send 6-10 pages of poetry by April 1 to the Chautauqua Writers’ Center c/o Clara Silverstein, 216 Grove St., Auburndale, MA 02466. |
 | Rick Hilles - Week 3 John Keats once said, "If a Sparrow come before my window I take part in its existence and pick about the Gravel." In this workshop, we will utilize Keats’ notion of imaginative empathy as our own dynamic source for poems that give us a path out of the enclosure of the self. Our sessions will include writing prompts to encourage explorations of new points of view (jailbreaks), along with readings of published poets, discussions of craft and of your poems, all meant to invigorate and inspire. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of 1-2 of your own poems to discuss in class as time allows. |
 | David Chin - Week 4 Together we will focus on developing your "inner critic," a skill which is essential to becoming a good writer. We will accomplish this through tactful, thoughtful and critical discussion of your poems. As we workshop your poems from the perspective of craft (image, sound, diction, tropes, emotion, form, etc.), we will also consider how your work relates to various conventions of contemporary poetry. Ideally, you will create your own set of criteria for interrogating and revising poems. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of 1-2 of your own poems to discuss in class as time allows. |
 | James Armstrong - Week 5 Once the first draft is on the page, the poem is only just beginning. Now comes the difficult task of finding the work of art which is hiding in the midst of all those words. This workshop will help you do just that. We will discover how to make a poem more surprising and more alive for both you and the reader. Poets at all levels are welcome. We will also be creating new work based on assignments to challenge both beginning and advanced poets. You may bring 15 copies of works-in-progress to the class, or send 1-2 poems by July 1 to James Armstrong, 258 E. 9th St, Winona, MN 55987. |
 | Catherine Bowman - Week 6 "Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!" is how Walt Whitman describes a moment of revelation in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." In this workshop we will work on bringing to the surface the poems that are waiting to be discovered, to traverse the flood-tides below. I will lead you through a series of in-class writing exercises and experiments to jump-start your imagination, and give optional overnight assignments. We will discuss poems from a packet I will provide. We will explore revision, so please bring 15 copies of 1-2 poems from home on which you would like some feedback. The main focus will be on generating new work, strategies for writing about difficult topics, and exploring forms and structures. The goal is for you to complete some promising drafts and perhaps some polished gems, and to explore various aspects of writing poems. All levels welcome. |
 | Julia Spicher Kasdorf - Week 7 This class asks a basic alchemical and artistic question: How does experience become a poem? Participants will tackle exercises designed to find new poetry in memory and will also workshop pieces they might have brought from home. We will emphasize writing new work every day, using the pleasures of memory, travel, and "being away." Participants may send 1-2 poems before Aug. 1 to Julia Kasdorf, 232 N. Wilson St., Bellefonte, PA 16823 or bring 15 copies of 1-2 of your own poems to discuss in class as time allows |
 | Gabriel Welsch - Week 8 In this workshop, we’ll imagine the timbre, cadence, ideas, and emotions of other beings (or even things) outside the limits of our lived experience as we develop a few new poems. Getting over the vanity of the lyric poet, we will also plumb an exploratory vein, writing poems that originate in the world beyond our breadth. We will read the work of others who have had success with literary ventriloquism. The ultimate goal is to explore the surprising creative possibilities of writing in voices that are not your own. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of 1-2 of your own poems to discuss in class as time allows. |
 | Pamela Gemin - Week 9 How does our favorite music conspire to make us more soulful and creative? In this workshop we will take a musical approach to making new poems, first by revisiting our favorite songs (the ones that still raise a lump in our throats or transport us to different eras) and talking about why they’ve been so significant in our lives. Working from an exercise menu and examples, we’ll then infuse themes, rhythms, sounds, lyrics, and other features of music into our poems in interesting ways. Please bring three or four of your favorite songs on a CD or an MP3 player (such as an iPod) to share with class. |
