poetry about places
POETRY WORKSHOP LED BY JOHN WALL BARGER
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2022
6PM - 8PM
GERTRUDE'S WRITING ROOM, 1899 NIAGARA ST, The Coach House, Willistead Park
$50.00
includes a copy of John's new poetry collection 'Smog Mother' and refreshments
It’s tricky to write about the places we visit. Travel poems come with a flood of unfortunate expectations: clichés, platitudes, sentimentality, and so on. How can we refrain from being tourists in our own poems, and allow a place to be “real” and “authentic” without projecting our expectations onto it? How, for example, could Paris be anything other than romantic, City of Love, beautiful, historical? Is it possible for us to convey, through poems, the complicated, nuanced, wild, deeply personal experience of standing on a street in another city?
In this workshop, writers will
- learn skills that will help you approach this much-trodden road with freshness and innovation
- look at some terrific examples of travel poetry
- write a few travel poems of your own
TO REGISTER:
- Email shieldsvanessa@gmail.com with
'Poetry about Places' in the subject line
- include full name, email, phone number and any food restrictions
- let us know how you'd like to pay
PAYMENT OPTIONS
e-transfer, credit, debit, cash on the day
e-transfer email: shieldsvanessa@gmail.com
*scholarship funds available*
MEET JOHN!
John has traveled extensively, and clearly immersed himself in the culture of each place he's adventured. John is eager to share his stories and show us how to bring our travel experiences into the light of poetry!
Photo credit: Tiina Rosenqvist
John Wall Barger’s poems and critical writing have appeared in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review Online, Zyzzyva, Rattle, The Cincinnati Review, The Hopkins Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Poetry Ireland Review, and Best of the Best Canadian Poetry. His poem, “Smog Mother,” was co-winner of The Malahat Review’s 2017 Long Poem Prize. His fifth collection of poems, Resurrection Fail (Spuyten Duvyil Press, 2022) was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Poetry Award, the Eric Hoffer Book Award, and the Grayson Book Prize. His next collection, Smog Mother, is forthcoming with Palimpsest Press (Fall 2022). He is a contract editor at Frontenac House, and teaches Creative Writing at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.