Sample workshop descriptions. This is for a one-hour workshop, unlike the others which are designed for five, ten, or more meetings.

IT MUST CHANGE

Wallace Stevens' second dictum for poetry in "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction" is "It Must Change." Often in our writing the desire to complete a statement, stick with a central image or stay inside a narrative leads us to close off other avenues that would enrich our writing. We will explore the idea of change, divergence, interruption, non sequitor and parallel themes in a brief discussion with two examples from well-known poems. Then I will lead the group through an exercise that demonstrates the power of these options. A brief free-write, followed by a second that returns to the same piece from a different starting point will help writers get first hand experience of allowing this type of change in a poem.