Thursday, February 04, 2010

How to Poems REDUX

I recently got an email from Carolyn Gray, theatre impresario and fiction writer and recent Aqua W-i-R and even-more-recent Writers' Collective employee with the subject line: We Want You!

Though I tried my best to ignore the request, in the midst of editing Hump, moving house and related tomfoolery (Oh. yah. Xmas.), Carolyn was persistent.

So here I am, slated to teach my first workshop as a newly-minted author.

(What goddamn) fun!

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How to Write a Poem
A workshop with Ariel Gordon


When: Saturday, May 22
Time: 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Cost: $15 for Writers' Collective members, $30 for non-members.

Have you ever wondered how to rip a phone book in half? Or how to survive in the woods? Or, even, how to seduce a woman...in poetry?

By the end of this workshop with poet Ariel Gordon, designed to open up your writing process via a variety of writing exercizes, you’ll have tried your hand at all of them.

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Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg-based writer and editor. Recent publications include a chapbook of travel poetry entitled Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999 with Edmonton’s Rubicon Press. Some of Ariel’s how-to poems were recently published in Guelph art/lit mag Carousel and shortlisted for Arc's 2009 Poem of the Year Contest. She is a regular contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press’ books section and, each September, is Blogger-in-Chief of HOT AIR, the official blog of THIN AIR (i.e. the Winnipeg International Writers Festival). Finally, her first full collection of poetry, Hump, is slated for publication with Palimpsest Press in May 2010.


TO REGISTER, PLEASE EMAIL writerscollective@uwinnipeg.ca OR CALL 786-9468


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In the meantime, I happen to have several clutches of How-to poems out in the world in addition to some judiciously selected Edisonia.

Putting submissions together is completely satisfying, or at least the moment when they drop thru the mail slot is. Then comes the waiting. About a third of the submissions will be lost and/or the editors of the magazines/contests/websites will neglect to respond to me.

But one or two poems might just make it to the desk of of an editor in a sympathetic mood. And the conversation that is lit-in-mags will continue. (I try not to shout but I get excited...)

Speaking of which, my poem Waterage will appear in the spring issue of Descant.

It will also appear in Hump and is probably one of the older poems in the ms, dating back to my days in the Wolseley Writing Group.

2 comments:

ian LeTourneau said...

I have never wondered how to rip a phone book in half. Now I will be haunted till my dying day about how to perform such a feat.

G'luck with the workshop. Break a.. er.. metaphor!

Ariel Gordon said...

Thanks, Ian. (Apparently the trick is to cook the book in the oven until the pages get brittle...)