Descriptions of other past workshops, upcoming ones, and facilitators' biographies and bibliographies can be found in the posted newsletters. Please visit the Newsletters page.

Poems, Donald Hall writes, are pleasure first: bodily pleasure, a deliciousness of the senses. Language addresses us on an intellectual level, but it is the sounds and rhythms of language that offer us physical pleasure. Think of poetry then as spoken music, spoken song.

Participants will explore six set poetic forms which enhance the writing process and also allow for variations on those forms. After each exercise participants will read their work aloud for comment. We will also experiment with free verse.

We will explore how the clearly defined yet seemingly boundless prose poem - how it resembles and conveys our sub-conscious poetic impulses. We will look to masters and practitioners of prose poetry such as Zbigniew Herbert, James Wright, Killarney Clary, and Carsten René Nielsen for launching points into discussions, and three writing exercises that will help us understand how the prose poem embodies the poet’s associative, intuitive, musical, and narrative instincts.

OCTOBER 2011 Workshop October 1, 2011
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
Worner Center (902 North Cascade Avenue) at Colorado College
Inspirations: Neruda and Zurita
Presenter: Mary Crow, Colorado Poet Laureate 1996-2010

This poetry workshop will employ several poems by Latin American poets as models and inspiration for participants' own poems. These poems will come from Pablo Neruda's Residence on Earth and Raul Zurita's Anteparadise, two highly original and intense works that can provide fresh ways to approach our own writing. Neruda and Zurita are both Chilean poets but of different generations. Neruda died in 1973 and Zurita is still writing today, inspired by the work of Dante. While obviously these poets, like all poets, write out of their own experience, they are not, in these works, obviously autobiographical. Thus, the ways in which they transform what they know can be a window into a new way of seeing our own experience and transmuting it into verse. Participants will write at least two of their own poems and then the group will have an opportunity to share the results.

SEPTEMBER 2011 Workshop September 10, 2011
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
Worner Center (902 North Cascade Avenue) at Colorado College
Poetry: The Next Generations Presenter: Eliot Khalil Wilson

This workshop will endeavor to generate three types of poems. The first will be a poem of personal introduction written not via metaphor but, rather, metonymy. Metonymy and its common subcategory synecdoche are metaphor’s neglected cousins. I will attempt to make clear the differences between the two figures of speech before we embark. The second exercise will be an apostrophe, using personification to bring a favorite or least favorite word to life. (Please bring a word list.) Lastly, we will craft a poem in which we imagine ourselves into a particular genre movie, a kind of ekphrasis. Not only must we textually recreate the conventions of the form, but must also offer a revision, or re-envisioning. How might these clichéd forms be changed by our involvement? We will share, as time allows, and I will bring handouts as guides, which will include my own work.

Eliot Khalil Wilson’s first book of poems, The Saint of Letting Small Fish Go, won the 2003 Cleveland State Poetry Prize. He has won a Pushcart Prize, and has been awarded fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts and the Bush Foundation. He received the Hill-Kohn Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and was awarded the Robert Winner Prize by the Poetry Society of America. He currently teaches at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Psychologist Carl Jung has described the Anima as Feminine energy, which both men and women can tap into, if they're willing to step out of their controlling consciousness and into the unconscious realm of imagination. During the workshop we will attempt to get in touch with the collective unconsciousness among us and allow the Anima to reveal the hidden truths behind our words. Anita requests that, If you're planning to attend this workshop, to jot down, in advance, and bring, any dream images you've had, no matter how strange they may seem to you.

Within the 2-hr. presentation, there will be 3 short writing periods that flow out of the discussions: 1) from dream images, which participants have brought with them (you can jot them down there if you forget, of course 2) from a work of art, which she will bring, and 3) from words offered spontaneously by the Poetry West members. These exercises are designed to allow the unconscious to guide our writing, but these are merely starters, and can be shared, but will not be critiqued. Participants are encouraged to talk about the process since there are often surprises that occur when delving into the unconscious.

Anita Jepson-Gilbert teaches ESL n Denver, where she also facilitates poetry workshops with the Columbine Poets of Colorado. CP is a chapter of The National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Her latest chapbook is entitled EVERYWOMAN, from Pudding House Press (2010). She is also the author of an award-winning, bilingual childrens' book, Maria and the Stars of Nazca / Maria y las Estrellas de Nazca (2004), which is about the mysterious, gigantic land drawings near the Andes mountains in Peru, and the woman who discovered them.

Guest Presenters:Fawn Bell & Ashley Crockett
Subject: Hear the Voice of the Bard

Fawn Bell & Ashley Crockett will lead us through a series of exercises based on the first stanza of William Blake’s “Introduction” to Songs of Experience. Bring paper and pen, as you prepare to explore your poetry, influences and motivation -- to ask yourself, “Am I a bard?” The last hour will be devoted to sharing our responses, and getting to know ourselves and each other better through the poems we create.

Fawn Bell has been a member of Poetry West for almost six years. There are many parallels, she finds, between her career in landscape architecture and the art form of poetry. She is appreciative of the society of poets in the Pikes Peak region.

Ashley Crockett is long-time attendee/member of Poetry West. She currently serves on the PW Board as a member-at-large and edited the newsletter last year. She hosts a casual weekly gathering called “At the Table with Poetry West ” on Sundays from 5 – 7 pm at Poor Richard’s Bookstore, 320 North Tejon Street, Colorado Springs, 80903: (719) 578-0012. Ashley is a critically-acclaimed actress, often seen on local stages; she is also a performance poet.

MAY 2011 Workshop May 7, 2011
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
WES Auditorium, Worner Center, Colorado College A Two-part Workshop with Janice Gould

Part 1: Critical Reading/Analysis of Native American Poetry
We'll do some critical readings of noted Native American authors, looking at themes, preoccupations, and philosophical outlook of poems by Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, Luci Tapahonso, Sherman Alexie, and others. What variations in tone, outlook, and world view do these authors convey in their poetry?

Part 2: Modeling Burroway: "Character as Desire"
We'll address voice and persona. Using wood, stone, rock, and other materials. The objects will serve as a catalyst for creating voice. Using wood, stone, rock, and other material objects objects (and our imaginations), we'll work on "listening" to the natural world. A second exercise will create character, either for a persona poem, a dramatic monologue for a character in a play, or for text within an epic poem.

Janice Gould (Concow Maidu) is an Assistant Professor in Women’s and Ethnic Studies at UCCS. She earned her B.A. in Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a Master’s degree in English at the same institution. Her Ph.D. in English was earned at the University of New Mexico. Janice more recently earned, in 2008, a Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Arizona, where she was a Knowledge River Scholar and a Fellow in the Association of Research Libraries. She also completed an internship at the National Museum of the American Indian and earned a certification in museum studies, also from UA. She is the recipient of grants for her poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Astraea Fund for Lesbian Writers. She was recently awarded the Native Writer-in-Residence Fellowship from the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, which will begin in 2012, and she was also given the first literary prize for poetry from the online journal, Native Literature: Generations. Her books of poetry include Beneath My Heart (Firebrand Press), an artbook/chapbook, Alphabet (May Day Press), and Earthquake Weather (University of Arizona Press). Doubters and Dreamers (University of Arizona Press) is her newest publication. The University of Arizona Press also published Janice’s scholarly work, Speak to Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry, which she co-edited with poet, Dean Rader. Janice’s poetry has seen print in over 50 books and journals, including Pilgrimage Magazine, edited by Maria Melendez. Janice has taught a variety of courses in literature and creative writing, and she was the Hallie Ford Chair in Creative Writing at Willamette University from 2002-2005.

Guest Presenter:J. Michael Martinez and Mathias Svalina
Subject: Astonishment in Poetry

APRIL 2011 Workshop
April 2, 2011
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
WES Auditorium, Worner Center, Colorado College

Guest Presenter:J. Michael Martinez and Mathias Svalina
Subject: Astonishment in Poetry

J. Michael Martinez and Mathias Svalina will lead the workshop and also present an afternoon reading, along with Denver-area poet Julia Cohen. The first hour of the workshop, offered by Martinez, will give you practice in the techniques of textual collage and cut-up; collaborative writing; visual and concrete poetry & cancelled text; we will focus primarily on collage prose poems. We will be revamping used novels, performing erasures of our and own and others' work. Some of our work will be done individually and some will require collaboration with your fellow poets. Workshop time will include collaboration, writing exercises, and talking about the history and theory of what we are practicing.

The second half, presented by Svalina, will feature “Deformed Formalism.” This workshop will explore the use of forms to contain ideas and to explore new ways of telling familiar stories. We will discuss forms ranging from the traditional sonnet and the mytho-poetic creation myth to contemporary forms that exist outside of poetry & literature. We will discuss the use of forms as generative devices and write in and against a variety of forms. The goal of this workshop is to find new modes of uniquely expressing universal themes.

An afternoon poetry reading will follow from 2:30 to 4:30 that same day in the Casa Verde Commons House, by Martinez, Svalina and Julia Cohen.

J. Michael Martinez is a poet, essayist and librettist. His writings have appeared in “Puerto Del Sol,” “New American Writing,” on NPR, and in “Mandorla.” Recent work can be found in “Octopus,” “Phoebe,” “Quarterly West” and other journals. Recipient of the 2006 Five Fingers Review Poetry Prize, he has received residencies from the Ragdale Foundation, Canto Mundo, and the Vermont Studio Center. His libretto for the opera The Autumn Orchard premiered this past summer at CU's New Opera Workshop. His collection Heredities was selected by Juan Felipe Herrera for the Academy of American Poets' Walt Whitman Award, and is published by Louisiana State University Press. His website is www.jmichaelmartinez.org.

Mathias Svalina is co-editor of “Octopus Magazine” and the small press, Octopus Books. He is the author of numerous chapbooks, and has developed collaborative projects with other poets, filmmakers and artists. He has received awards and fellowships from “The Indiana Review,” the Associated Writing Program, and Breadloaf, among others. His first book, Destruction Myth, was recently published by The CSU Poetry Center, and his hybrid novella, I Am A Very Productive Entrepreneur is forthcoming from MudLuscious Books. He teaches writing and literature in Denver.

Julia Cohen is the author ofTriggermoon, recently released from Black Lawrence Press, and her poems can be found in journals like “Colorado Review,” “jubilat,” and “Columbia Poetry Review.” She is the Associate Editor of “The Denver Quarterly.”

MARCH 2011 Workshop
Saturday, March 5, 2011
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
Casa Verde Commons, 1355 Lindenwood Grove, Colorado Springs

Guest Presenter:Brian Barker
Subject: Ekphrastic Poetry

Brian Barker is the author of The Animal Gospels (Tupelo Press, 2006) and The Black Ocean (Southern Illinois University Press, forthcoming June 2011), winner of the Crab Orchard Open Competition. His poems, reviews, and interviews have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Poetry, Kenyon Review Online, Ploughshares, Agni, Quarterly West, TriQuarterly, The Writer’s Chronicle, The Washington Post, Blackbird, Pleiades, and storySouth. He teaches creative writing at the University of Colorado, Denver, where he co-edits Copper Nickel.br>
Brian Barker presented a workshop and writing exercise on Ekphrastic Poetry. He touched on the history of ekphrasis (poetry based on works of art), while we examined model poems, considered the limitations and freedoms of the genre and how the ekphrastic writing process can be used for inspiration and to overcome writer’s block. Mr. Barker brought along a selection of art postcards and books for use in a writing exercise.

FEBRUARY 2011 Workshop
February 5, 2011
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
WES Auditorium, Worner Center, Colorado College

Guest Presenter:Mary Jane Sullivan
Subject: Astonishment in Poetry

Mary Jane Sullivan is a philosophy professor, poet, documentary filmmaker, and Visiting Lecturer in Film Studies at UCCS.

Sullivan spoke about “astonishment” and the significance of discovery in poetry. She lead us in writing poems concerning astonishment and the process/thrill of discovery as regards poetic form and content.