I have presented programs about poetry and related topics, including at the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) on the ethics of writing about real people. To read some of my presentations, see below.April 27, 2014, Presentation on "What Writers Need to Know About the Law" at Hartford Writer's Weekend, Mark Twain House.
May 3, 2014. Presentation on "Five Poetry Prompts to Change your Life" at Massachusetts Poetry Festival, with panelists Ginny Connors, Ben Grossberg, and Ruth Foley.
Poets on Poetry -- monthly discussions of nationally-known poets by local poet moderators.
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One Good Idea -- from Poets I have Studied With
Tony Hoagland and Christine at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival 2012
"Practice the 'muscle of material imagination' by using names that are particular based on their sonic appeal, such as Zanzibar."
Don Sheehan, founder and former director of The Frost
Place, Franconia, New Hampshire:
Fall in love with the poetry of another poet here. You will find that your own poetry will inexplicably improve.
Vivian Shipley, Professor at MFA Program in Creative Writing, Southern Ct. State University:
Ground your poem in specific people, places and things
first so the reader is not
confused about the literal situation.
Jeff Mock, Professor at MFA Program in Creative Writing, Southern Ct. State University:
Notice how your first lines
are often written in iams. You have an ear for rhythm. Use it.
Tom Lux, Frost Place and Palm Beach Poetry Festival.
Find the best phrase or line in your poem and make every word in your poem that good.
Patrick Donnelly, The Frost Place
Use a strong sensory detail in the last line of your poem.
Martha Collins, The Frost Place
When your poetry feels flat, vary your sentence structure. Begin your sentence with different parts of speech.
Baron Wormser, The Frost Place
Find the spot where your poem “starts cooking.”
Begin there.
Martha Rhodes, The Frost Place
Ask your poem questions. Write the answer to each question like an accordion expanding. Then rein in
the accordion after you have discovered what your poem really wants to say.
the accordion after you have discovered what your poem really wants to say.
Major Jackson, The Frost Place, 2004
First, poetry must please the reader. The subject is immaterial.
What matters is the sound, the pattern, the music, and the
form.
What matters is the sound, the pattern, the music, and the
form.
Mark Doty, NFSPS Convention 2008
Write what you don't know. Train yourself like a swimmer to stay down longer and longer in the mystery and unknown.