Mapping Lyric Narrative
What makes some literature transcendent? Is it the way readers can fall deep into someone’s story in a line or two? This workshop will explore the path lyric narrative takes in the hands of poets such as Lucille Clifton and Billy Collins, and possibly some novelists. First, we’ll examine how their work moves deftly through time and space. Then we will borrow their tools to draft a poem or two. If you care about, as Hemingway says, “writing the truest sentence you know,” join me in deciphering how the masters create magic.
Processing Emotion Through Poetry
William Carlos Williams has famously said, “No ideas but in things.” Mark Doty, inspired by a mackerel display at his local grocery store, later wrote a poem which resonates with the enormous loss of the AIDS epidemic. In this poetry workshop, we’ll look at specific images as the doorway to processing and communicating emotion. We’ll examine how a few poets accomplish this task, and then do some writing ourselves.
Discovering the Three Stages of Creativity
You know you’re creative, so why aren’t you moving ahead on your dream projects? This workshop will introduce you to the three phases of creativity that always need to remain separate—or they will sabotage one another. You’ll get to know each one so you can be fully present when you’re in it. The result is a like a tune-up—you will be ready to shift into high gear and accelerate your output dramatically.