CRAFT CLASS SESSION 1: FRIDAY 2:15-3:30
* indicates handicapped accessible
METAPHORS (MARJORIE RYERSON)
Barn 1*
When you write a poem or story, are you building a house, pulling teeth, pounding a wall, riding a wild horse, conducting an exorcism,
throwing a lump of clay on a potter's wheel, or performing surgery on yourself without anesthesia? Is the moon a slice of cheese, an old
man, a lost golf ball in the sky? Do you know someone whose elevator doesn’t reach the top floor? What makes a great metaphor? When
does it become a cliché? In this craft class, we will explore and share the art and music of metaphors.
THIS IS MY LETTER TO THE WORLD (LIZ POWELL)
Barn 2*
…that is what Emily Dickinson said of one of her poems. In this workshop we will look at the epistle, or poem as letter. Come ready to
write and enjoy a variety of different poems from Billy Collins to Baudelaire. We'll look at aspects of address, voice, form and content, all
while having fun and leaving with some excellent starts to new poems.
MAKING SENTENCES LIKE AN ARTIST (TOM PAINE)
Barn 4
Using art-school techniques we will attempt to break down the walls of 'concept' (as in Salinger's story "Teddy') to see human beings and
trees in their true glory. In short, the largest problem facing writers is not thinking or syntax, but rather how to become the imaginative
Artist who "sees the world truly" and then writes the sentence in the same way an artist wields a paintbrush. Writing is about learning to
see like an artist. Writing is not trigonometry (thankfully!).Writing is an art form. It calls you to be an artist. Something many people would rather you
do not become! We’ll do some drawing, and then some writing, from art prompts.
A LIFE WELL LIVED (SUSAN GREENBERG)
Barn 5
Obituaries are biographies in short, entire lives captured in a few hundred words. Which details best reveal a person’s character,
relationships, successes, regrets? In this session, you will write your own obituary, looking back on whatever life you imagine lies ahead.
DARING PAIRING (SUSAN WHITE)
Barn 6
Brighten your writing—prose or poetry—with original descriptions through synesthesia and kennings. We all know sensory details yank a
reader into a piece, but it’s not easy to do this innovatively. How does one avoid trite pairings such as “racing heart” or “smooth voice”?
Synesthesia, the crossing of senses, is often a dazzling technique to employ. How much more interesting and memorable are “neon heart”
and “hazelnut voice.” Likewise, kennings, compound nouns of fresh combination that replace common concrete nouns, can enliven
description. Instead of braces, why not teeth-armor? Or how about mind bender for teacher? In this session, you’ll transform the ordinary
into the extraordinary.
ONE-SENTENCE POEMS (KERRIN MCCADDEN)
Blue Parlor*
A sentence can explode like a firecracker, spending itself in only a few words. This is cool. Also, though, a sentence can take us on a road
trip—a sweet, lulling one, or an argumentative one, or a wild country joy ride. We will see how far we can push the sentence, one sentence.
I want you to write a poem—a long poem—built of only one long sentence. We’ll look at some samples, and we’ll look at some of the
language tools that help us expand sentences. Remember when your teachers said your sentences were too long? That you were writing
“run-ons”? Well, Grasshopper, what used to be considered a mistake will soon be your best new Kung Fu move. Walk out the door of this
workshop with a new poem.
CELEBRATING NEGATIVE SPACE/LOOKING IN CORNERS (LILY OYLER)
Library Upstairs
In this workshop, we will take a moment to linger over the small things: the details and moments that we don’t always feel we have time or
space to include in our writing, but that can color our work in vivid and surprising ways. Whether writing about coherent narratives or
abstract impressions, asking ourselves to look carefully in the corners of the scenes we construct might help us find and convey new
richness.
POETRY AND THE STAGE—READING ALOUD TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING (LIZZIE FOX) Library Downstairs*
A good poem lives on the page and in the body and voice of the poet. In this generative and embodied workshop, we’ll practice three steps
for crafting quality poems: Write. Read (aloud). Rewrite! In this process, we’ll create poetry that is felt on the page as it is out loud, and
we’ll focus on reciting with vigor and confidence. Come prepared to write, share, and receive feedback. Students are encouraged to bring a
piece on which they are currently working.
HOW DO WE BUILD NEW WORLDS (JANICE OBUCHOWSKI)
Barn A (Lower West)
Often we’re enchanted by the strange or the surreal in fiction, worlds that have recognizable aspects to them but still operate according to
their own logic. How can we create such worlds and still make them feel real? Using Aimee Bender’s short story “The Rememberer” as our
leaping point, we’ll briefly discuss how Bender managed to make her fabulist piece feel credible and moving. Then we’ll try writing stories
that use those same principles.
THE CONCRETE IMAGE AS THE ENGINE OF METAPHOR (ED WEBBLEY)
Barn 3
This session is inspired by the practices of the Metaphysical poets, especially John Donne. By extending a metaphor, anyone can write lively
poetry, prose, or even greeting cards. The aim of this workshop is to produce two poems each and to use peer critique to make the process
meaningful.
SONGWRITING FOR MUSICAL GENIUSES AND EVERYONE ELSE (LAURA HEABERLIN)
Barn Main*
What do "House of the Rising Sun", Gilligan's Island and Emily Dickinson all have in common? People have been writing songs in
common meter for centuries, from early hymns to the theme song of Pokemon. In this workshop, we'll discuss songwriting best practice
and strategies, as well as take a deeper look into common meter as a jumping off point for lyric writing. All levels of experience welcome.
Instruments optional.
CRAFT CLASS SESSION 2: SATURDAY 2:15-3:30
* indicates handicapped accessible
POETRY AND THE STAGE—READING ALOUD TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING (LIZZIE FOX) Library Downstairs*
A good poem lives on the page and in the body and voice of the poet. In this workshop, we’ll practice three steps for crafting quality
poems: Write. Read. Rewrite! We’ll create poetry that is felt on the page as it is out loud, and focus on reciting with vigor and confidence.
Come prepared to write, share, and receive feedback. Students are encouraged to bring a piece on which they are currently working.
HOW DO WE BUILD NEW WORLDS (JANICE OBUCHOWSKI)
Barn A (Lower West)
Often we’re enchanted by the strange or the surreal in fiction, worlds that have recognizable aspects to them but still operate according to
their own logic. How can we create such worlds? Using Aimee Bender’s short story “The Rememberer” as our leaping point, we’ll discuss
how Bender managed to make her fabulist piece feel credible and moving. Then we’ll try writing stories using those same principles.
THE CONCRETE IMAGE AS THE ENGINE OF METAPHOR (ED WEBBLEY)
Tamarack Parlor
This session is inspired by the practices of the Metaphysical poets. By extending a metaphor, anyone can write lively poetry, prose, or even
greeting cards. The aim of this workshop is to produce two poems each and to use peer critique to make the process meaningful.
SONGWRITING FOR MUSICAL GENIUSES AND EVERYONE ELSE (LAURA HEABERLIN)
Barn Main*
What do "House of the Rising Sun", Gilligan's Island and Emily Dickinson all have in common? People have been writing songs in
common meter for centuries, from early hymns to the theme song of Pokémon. In this workshop, we'll discuss songwriting best practice
and strategies, as well as take a deeper look into common meter as a jumping off point for lyric writing. All levels of experience welcome.
Instruments optional.
UM ... WE NEED TO TALK (DOUG WILHELM)
Barn 1*
Lively dialogue brings fiction to life –and it can be work best when it comes through us in unstudied, spontaneous ways. We’ll brainstorm a
batch of fun, random or all-too-real two-character situations, then divide into pairs. Each pair will draw one situation from a box, and will
have 15 minutes to write a scene entirely in dialogue. The pairs will then do dramatic readings of their dialogue.
EXPLORING EXPHRASIS (ALISON D. MONCRIEF BROMAGE)
Barn 2*
In a type of ekphrastic practice (that is, making a literary work in response to or in conversation with a piece of art), we will use
photographs and paintings to inspire short writings. The class will focus on craft techniques for creating these written reactions- will you
explore point of view? place? narrative or impressionistic collaborations with what you see? Come see what you will write!
“SOMETIMES I AM VICTORIOUS AND EVEN BEAUTIFUL” (MARTIN STEINGESSER)
Barn 4
Take the reverse of that poem title. This workshop encourages—but won’t require—exploring its flip side—the dark side of ourselves,
those times we let ourselves down, fail to live up to some deeply held personal standard. Using another poem—whose title I won’t tell
here—we will look at the way the poet relives that kind of experience, uncompromisingly but without confusing herself with what she
has—or hasn’t—done, and through the alchemy of writing succeeds in rescuing some pearl of self without distorting or lying about the
unacceptable truth of a moment’s failure.
COLOR ME REAL; COLOR ME SURREAL (MARJORIE MADDOX)
Barn 6
In one writing exercise, we'll focus on detail and tone by describing something ordinary in a more specific and unusual way. In another,
we'll use Mark Strand’s “Eating Poetry” to experiment with the surreal. Join us!
AN IMITATION GAME (SUSAN KINSOLVING)
Blue Parlor
Using a spectrum of poems, their tones and structures, we will play an imitation game. We’ll try Dickinson’s 8s&6s, Issa’s 17 syllables,
Tennessee Williams’ wildly free verse and Whitman’s celebratory listing. We’ll try a jingle in meter, maybe do a double dactyl! There’s no
code to break. Let your imagination echo, emulate, and recreate.
THE NUTS & BOLTS. (TONY MAGISTRALE)
Library Upstairs 1
What can we learn about the act of writing by reading and analyzing closely? We'll look at examples of good prose--diction, dialogue,
pacing, verb usage, sentence structure, punctuation--in order to see how a writer makes use of the craft to entertain and engage the reader.
Then, we'll try our own hand at adapting the elements we uncover.
ARRESTING STRANGENESS (MATTHEW DICKERSON)
Barn 5
Fantasy (as well as science fiction) invites readers into an imagined world that offers something one well-known fantasy writer described
as “arresting strangeness". But the best “ otherworldly” literature is also grounded in the real, everyday experiences of the writer (and
reader). How are these features balanced to create a compelling fantastic landscape? We’ll explore a few examples, then work on our own.
THE ASSOCIATIVE POEM (EMILY LUAN)
Barn 3
How can the poet create internal logic within the arbitrary? In this workshop, we will explore how different associative writing exercises
can help to generate material and expand diction, specificity, and tonal range. We will read some of the associative masters—Mary Ruefle,
Lorine Niedecker, among others—and see how raw material can be revised to the fit the poet’s specific intention.
I REMEMBER: MEMORY'S TRIGGER EFFECT (JAMIE-LEE JOSSELYN)
Library Upstairs 2
Ever wonder why thinking about your kindergarten class hamster conjures the image of your first pair of red Converse high tops? Or why
the Spongebob theme song reminds you of when your parents told you they were divorcing? Like it or not, we're students (or victims) of
our memory's triggers. In this session, we will look at Joe Brainard's book-length memoir-poem I Remember to examine how we use
repetition, juxtaposition and pacing to illuminate our collective and individual experiences.