Un-Difficulting Poetry: A Reading & Writing Workshop
Who: Midwest Writing Center and Ryan Collins
What: Un-Difficulting Poetry: A Reading & Writing Workshop
When: Every Tuesday in November (3, 10, 17, 24), from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Central
Where: Meetings held online via Zoom
Cost: $80 for MWC members and $120 for non-MWC members;
If you have ever thought poetry is “difficult” or “hard” in some way you couldn’t quite place, the Midwest Writing Center has just the thing: a reading and writing workshop focused on identifying, reading through, and working with different kinds of “difficulty” in a four-week workshop series facilitated by poet and MWC Executive Director Ryan Collins.
The workshop will ground itself in the essay “On Difficulty in Poetry” by the seminal American poet Reginald Shepherd (1963-2008), which breaks difficulty in poetry down into several categories (lexical, allusive, syntactical, semantic, formal, modal). Each week, we will look at 1-2 of these categories of difficulty, while reading poems that demonstrate them. We will discuss the Shepherd essay, the sample poems, and try writing our own work using the understandings we arrive at via our readings, discussions, and experience.
No poetry reading or writing experience required to participate in this workshop—only a curiosity about poetry in general and a willingness to read and discuss with other like-minded people. Readings will be provided in advance of each session. While there will not be any formal critiques of participant work during the workshop, there will be time each week for participants to share their own work and engage in a brief discussion.
Registration is $80 for MWC members, and $100 for non-MWC members. A limited number of scholarships are available for students, teachers, veterans, and those with financial need; form is available on the MWC website.
Register today using the button below (paypal account not required) or contact Ryan Collins at 309-732-7330.
Ryan Collins is the author of A New American Field Guide & Song Book and several chapbooks. Recently he was a finalist in the DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press Chapbook Contest, the Black Lawrence Press Black River Chapbook Competition, and the YesYes Books Open Reading Period. His work has appeared in Apartment, The Biscuit Hill, Coma, The Laurel Review, Ninth Letter, Past Ten, Sink Review, Waxwing, and many other places. He hosts the SPECTRA Reading Series in Rock Island, IL, where he lives.
This workshop is supported by the Illinois Arts Council and Quad City Arts, through the Arts Dollars re-granting program, supported by The Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, The Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, and the Quad Cities Community Foundation – Isabel Bloom Art Education Endowment.
