Word of the Month Poetry Challenges in the coming months

Hi everyone,

A quick reminder to those who have not posted their November Word of the Month poems yet. Grief is filled with meaning and stories. Thank you for the insightful poems already posted. I hope to see others as the month winds down.

If you remember, a few months ago I turned to the poets who attended my first workshop in 2011 near Honesdale, Pennsylvania and asked them to choose words for the next eight months. They were CORY CORRADO, JEANNE POLAND, KEN SLESARIK, SUSAN CARMICHAEL, JOY ACEY, HEIDI MORDHORST, BECCA MENSHEN, and CAROL-ANN HOYTE. In previous posts I’ve mentioned this group of poets, most of whom came to the workshop as strangers and left friends. Many have remained in touch over these past eleven years. With that original group in mind, I asked each in turn to provide the Word of the Month word for the months of September (Cory), October (Jeanne), November (Ken), December (Susan), January (Joy), February (Heidi), March (Becca), and April (Carol-Ann).

So far we’ve enjoyed words provided by Cory, Jeanne, and Ken. Coming up in December is Susan. I’m eager to see what she suggests to tickle our muses.

Georgia Heard poetry workshop next week

Hi everyone,

Next Tuesday evening, December 1, I’ll be Georgia Heard’s guest speaker on Poet’s Studio, an online series of workshops on writing poetry. It will start at 7:00 CST and I’m scheduled to start around 7:30. My subjects will be rhyme and meter and I’ll work with the attendees for 35-45 minutes. Georgia says, “The wonderful poets in my classes are a mixture of poets writing for children and adults.”
The series is marked full on Georgia’s site but here it is in case you or someone you know might like to check to see about late enrollment. https://www.georgiaheard.com/the-poets-studio/

I look forward to participating in Georgia’s workshop. Because of the activities around introducing three new books since September I’ve had little time to prepare for it until now. And that’s why I can’t play very much between now and next Tuesday.

Had some company

Hi everyone,

Had some awesomesauce friends over yesterday. Thanks to mama Michele Heinrichs, who drove eight hours roundtrip, Ryan and Sarah brightened my day. AND they brought me chocolate chip cookies! What gets better than that? Can’t think of anything!
We had another good workshop day yesterday and wind up this morning. As always, I’m taking home more than I brought with me — all these good memories of friends old and new. Thanks to everyone who once again pitched in to make it a successful workshop.

Getting there

BULLETIN: Happy birthday to Tim Williams, my very favorite son-in-law in the world!

Hi everyone,

The remake of the poetry collection I mentioned is coming along well. Some of the poems are lending themselves to revision while others are being replaced with new ones. At the rate it’s going I should finish the poems by the end of next week and get a start on the additional 100-word prose pieces that will accompany each one.

Just received another note from a participant in the upcoming poetry workshop sixteen days from now. I don’t know if anyone else will sign up at the last minute, but we have a good group.

I have a meeting this afternoon and a birthday party at our house this evening. The rest of the day I’ll work. Not a bad way to end the week!

Looking forward to Honesdale

Hi everyone,

That’s Kent Brown, mastermind behind these workshop opportunities. Three more poets have signed up for my workshop next month. This brings us to ten, a good number, and they are coming from California, New York, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Illinois. It isn’t too late if anyone is still thinking it over. I’ve started the process of getting acquainted with the folks who are coming and yesterday I made good progress making notes and handouts. For each half-day segment I’ll present handouts specific to that topic while I’ve giving my talk. The handouts will include descriptions and examples plus prompts to help get the poets started on writing their own. We’ll tackle free verse, unrhymed verse forms, short rhymed verse forms, long rhymed verse forms, and even try a rhymed picture book story. Should be fun.

Today I’ll spend some time considering what we might do as a group on Monday and Tuesday evenings after dinner. Traditionally we gather on the patio, sit around in chairs, and take turns entertaining ourselves reading and/or performing poetry. One year Jeanne Poland brought some rhythm instruments and we all had a good time playing with them. Matt Forrest showed us how to make his favorite recipe for smores one evening around the fireplace. Joy Acey, you’ve always had good ideas for the evening activities. Too bad you’re not able to get there this year, but I’m sure you’ll be with us in spirit.

http://tinyurl.com/poetspublish