Poetry Workshop

On Sat, Feb 4th a group of 18 poets and writers from the area gathered at Marilyn B.'s home for a day of fun, fellowship and learning to “Open Your Heart with A Pen.” A light breakfast set the mood for the day with participants getting better acquainted. Debi led us through a guided imagery to Open our Hearts. This activity brought some interesting poems and vignettes as participants shared their experiences after Lin helped them organize their thoughts with Clustering-a right brain activity.

Marilyn next helped us remember that Less is More as we experimented writing with given words. Then we were challenged to use the same material and take out words or phrases not needed to tighten up and improve our creations. Soon it was time for a delicious lunch organized by Barbara A. Tasty chicken salad croissants were enjoyed plus a variety of salads, fresh fruit and a heart decorated cake.

After lunch, a stimulating exercise with Words and Alliteration was led by Barbara F. We broke into groups of four and rewrote some well known lines of poetry using the principle of gossip, each person writing a new line with similar sounds and random meanings before passing their creation on to the next person who then rewrote that. We had many laughs with this activity, but also discovered some gems for future writing activities.

LaVerna finished off the afternoon with Sharing Ideas. She reminded us that we need to be willing to share although it makes us vulnerable, and to read other poets to help us to grow. Who you are matters as you write poetry. We then wrote about “Being in mom’s kitchen.” One of the participants Marilyn R. commented afterwards…What a great workshop. Every presenter had something fresh and interesting to share. The food was tasty, the environment welcoming, the attendees fun to be with. Just the thing to fuel the pump.