Workshops

Registration for workshops by phone or in person at Stranger Than Fiction Books, 19603 Vashon Hwy SW, Vashon, 206 408 7268.
Payment is by cash or check only at the venue (see locations below) on day of event.
Events at Vashon Library are free.

Saturday, May 23

Emily’s Favorite Measure.  Sam Green
Heritage Museum, 10105 SW Bank Rd, 10-noon, 15 folks, $20 donation by attendees.
This workshop will focus on Emily Dickinson’s favorite prosodic formula: the “hymnal,” and will take a look at how other             poets—Roethke, Bogan, Wordsworth—have used it to good advantage, with slight variations. This is also the measure of the balladeers, and one of the most popular choices for song writers. Sound technical? It is, a little; but it’s also tremendous fun.

We have the words, so now let's make a poem. Tony Curtis
Land Trust Bldg, 10014 SW Bank Rd, 1-3 p.m., 15 folks, $20 donation by attendees.
All the participants will need is pens, paper and courage. I will lead the workshop but everyone will be involved, everyone will help out, will help us find at least one of the poems we carry inside. As T.S. Eliot said: 'Poor poets imitate, great poets steal'. I'd just add "beg, borrow, live, die, breathe." Robert Frost, Gary Synder have shown one way, Elizabeth Bishop a more dangerous route. We will be looking for the simplest path. We will, I hope, be traveling inwards, back towards the lost things we carry in our soul.

Poetry is not a Gated Community. Kevin Miller
Vashon Library, 17210 Vashon Hwy, 1-3 p.m., 15 folks, free, for teens, parents, grandparents, teachers.
This workshop is all about permission, permission to put our images and stories on the page. We will work from models and with generating exercises.        

Sunday, May 24

The Art of the Daily. Sam Green
Heritage Museum, 10105 SW Bank Rd, 10-noon, 15 folks, $20 donation by attendees.
This workshop will concentrate on the intimate art of observation in the every day. How to we translate the abstract preoccupations of our lives (love, anger, political estrangement, grief) into concrete terms? How do we translate our relationship with the physical world into comprehensible order?

We have the words, so now let's make a poem. Tony Curtis
Land Trust Bldg, 10014 SW Bank Rd, 1-3 p.m., 15 folks, $20 donation by attendees
All the participants will need is pens, paper and courage. I will lead the workshop but everyone will be involved, everyone will help out, will help us find at least one of the poems we carry inside. As T.S. Eliot said: 'Poor poets imitate, great poets steal'. I'd just add "beg, borrow, live, die, breathe." Robert Frost, Gary Synder have shown one way, Elizabeth Bishop a more dangerous route. We will be looking for the simplest path. We will, I hope, be traveling inwards, back towards the lost things we carry in our soul.

For Closet Poets and Poetry Readers. Ann Spiers
Vashon Library, 17210 Vashon Hwy, 1-3 p.m, 15 folks, FREE
This workshop explores through examples and exercises how readers read a poem, how poets write for readers, how a poem works. Gain confidence in your writing choices and learn why good poems engage readers.