Cultural Council Offers Workshops for Experienced and Wannabe Poets
From common to uncommon poetic forms, the Northwest Cultural Council will offer experienced and wannabe poets the opportunity to develop their creativity in three workshops held from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturdays, Oct. 14, Nov. 11, and Dec. 9 at Palatine Public Library, 700 N. North Court, Palatine.
Many poets are unfamiliar with gothic poetry, have trouble hearing the beat in various forms of poetry, or are unfamiliar with invented poetic forms. Regardless, all NWCC workshop attendees will be challenged to experience poetry in new ways.
Annah Browning, who will teach "The Gothic Poem," believes this poetic form has a rich tradition, despite the fact that many readers are only familiar with gothic as fiction of the supernatural and macabre.
"We'll examine a number of poems influenced by the gothic tradition before trying our hand at a guided exercise to create our own haunted spaces within a poem," Browning says.
Browning, who lives in Chicago, is the author of "The Marriage," a chapbook, and holds a doctorate from the Program for Writers at The University of Illinois (Chicago). Her poems have appeared in several journals, and she is poetry editor of "Grimoire," an online literary magazine of dark arts.
Further, for anyone interested in poetic form, but who "has trouble hearing the beat or who just wants to escape its tyranny," Susannah Lang will teach "The Pleasure of Form without Meter," on Nov. 11.
"It can be fun to play around with forms that count syllables the way the French and Spanish do, and as certain American poets do," Lang says. "In this workshop, we'll look at some examples of syllabic verse and then try some of our own, or attendees can bring copies of something else to share for feedback," she says.
Lang's most recent collection of poems is, "Travel Notes from the River Styx," and she has published several other collections. She has won fellowships and done poetry translations. Lang lives in Chicago and teaches in the Chicago Public Schools.
In addition, those interested in learning and practicing invented poetic forms, may attend Bill Yarrow's workshop, "Inherited vs. Invented Forms of Poetry," on Dec. 9.
"No question, form is confinement, but one paradox of creative writing is that writing in form liberates, rather than restricts the imagination," Yarrow believes.
"But whose form? There are two kinds, inherited and invented," Yarrow explains. "We may be familiar with inherited forms-sonnets, villanelles, haiku, but in this session, we will look for idiosyncratic, invented poetic forms and invent some of our own," he adds.
Yarrow hope attendees are ready to "think outside the inherited box."
Yarrow lives in Joliet and is Professor of English at Joliet Junior College. He is a seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and the author of many books including "The Vig of Love." His poetry appears in print and online magazines and anthologies. He is an editor of "Blue Fifth Review," an online journal.
NWCC's "Second Saturday Poetry Workshops" are partially sponsored by Poets & Writers in New York, the Ritzenthaler Family Foundation in Warrenville, and Nancy Heggem of Palatine.
NWCC, a non-profit organization, serves the Northwest corridor and beyond. It supports and promotes the work of area visual artists and poets, offering a variety of programs including corporate gallery exhibitions- co-sponsored by businesses, convention and visitors' bureaus, libraries, and hospitals-and art competitions and poetry readings.
For more information, you may contact NWCC, 847-382-6922.