Poetry Events and News
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UPCOMING
Free Poetry Workshop: Find Your Voice with Persona Poems
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13
1:00-3:30
Oregon City Public Library
606 John Adams Street
Oregon City, OR 97045
Register at the library or on the website (click here).
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We will read and discuss some of my favorite contemporary persona poems, and examine how being someone else can help you find your own voice. Then we will use some prompts and write persona poems. Participants who wish to share their new drafts will be able to read what they just wrote in response to a workshop prompt.
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Every attendee will leave with a draft (or more), a set of prompts, and other helpful hand-outs.
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THE SEALEY CHALLENGE
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AUGUST 1--AUGUST 31
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Some of you may know about this than me, as I had not heard of it until today. It is a truly wonderful idea, as is anything that promotes, shares, and encourages people to read poetry.
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The gist is, you read a book of poetry each day in August. It was started by poet nicole sealey (click here for her web site), and if you click on the link below, you can find out more information about the challenge, which started in 2017.
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Books, chapbooks, anthologies--any poetry book is game. You should, apparently--again, this is new to me--photograph your poetry journey and share the photos online with the hashtag: #TheSealeyChallenge.
Definitely head to the website for The Sealey Challenge--it even includes a great list of books if you don't know where to start.
I, of course, urge you to read books by poets featured on my blog!
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To go to the site and get more information, click: The Sealey Challenge
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To see what I am reading for #thesealeychallenge2023, click here.
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ONGOING
Ohio Reading Road Trip
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In 2002, two of my many poems about Marietta, Ohio, were published in a wonderful anthology entitled I Have My Own Song for It: Modern Poems of Ohio (edited by Elton Glaser and William Greenway). One of the poems, "Leaving Downtown Marietta, Ohio, 1983" has been included on the Ohio Reading Road Trip web site, along with a poem by Ron McFarland, for a lesson called Contemporary Ohio Poets Extension Activities: The Poetry of Leaving. The page includes a wonderful lesson plan. I encourage anyone who is teaching poetry to check out this resource. Click here to go to the page that discusses my poem. And to read a great essay about why every student in this country should be studying poetry, click here; it will take you to Tony Hoagland's "Twenty Poems That Could Save America." He also has a book by the same name.
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Lesson Plan
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A lesson plan for college students. This lesson includes my poem, "CoCo Chanel in the Stairwell" and Rebecca Brown's "Forgiveness."
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PAST
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Sunday, February 19: Love Is Strange Online Poetry Workshop
Another fundraising online workshop. Benefits For Goodness Cakes, PDX Chapter
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Sunday, May 15, 2022: Food, Glorious Food! Poetry Workshop
Fundraising online workshop. Benefits For Goodness Cakes, PDX Chapter
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2009: Poet in the Schools
Pratum and Butte Creek Schools in the Silverton, OR area
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October 2021: All Month
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Each month, Tupelo Press, a literary publisher in Massachusetts, has a group of poets write a poem each day. These poems appear on the TP web site every day as a fundraiser for the press, as well as a way of spreading poetry to more people. I raised $500 during this month and did write 30 poems that month.
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Previous Readings
Portland, OR
Oregon City, OR
Salem, OR
Vancouver, WA
Lexington, KY
Richmond, KY
Seaside, OR
Grand Forks, ND
West Islip, NY
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Previous Workshops
Roseburg, OR
Oregon City, OR
Hillsboro, OR
Lake Oswego, OR
Richmond, KY
Grand Forks, ND
Huntington, WV
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