Poetry workshop to explore imagery

Submitted by Kathy Umlauf

The Northwest Cultural Council announces a Second Saturday Poetry Workshop to be held 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Feb. 11, led by Andrea Witzke Slot. The topic will be Imagery: “No Ideas But in Things.”

In his poem “A Sort of Song,” William Carlos Williams famously declares that there are “no ideas but in things.” In this workshop, participants will examine what Williams meant by this, and look at how the technique of using “images” and various forms of “imagery” have underscored numerous poets’ work before and after Williams. The workshop will examine a variety of poems first in order to see how “things” often allow for a surprising exploration of “ideas” in a poem, including emotion, time, and place. Participants will put all of this into practice through a series of in-class exercises.

Andrea Witzke Slot is a poet, scholar, teacher, and mother. Her first book, “To Find A New Beauty,” explores the more difficult qualities of beauty and desire in life, nature, and art. Her work has appeared in many places, including Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Translation Review, Chiron Review, Alba: A Journal of Short Poetry, The Pacific Review, Southern Women’s Review and PENA International. She teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is an editor at RHINO Poetry.

Participants are encouraged to bring 15 copies of their own work to share with the group. Workshops take place at the Palatine Public Library, 700 N. North Court, Palatine, the second Saturday of each month. All poets and writers are invited to attend the workshop. The cost is $15. RSVP by phone or email.

For information, call Northwest Cultural Council at (847) 991-7966 or email nwcc@northwestculturalcouncil.org.

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