It’s National Poetry Month, and I’m busy teaching poetry, poetry, poetry! My high school sophomores are writing their own poems and will end up with a small book at the end of the month, and they will participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 26. Will you?
It’s the last week of my online class, Writing the Short Poem, and again, it has been a stellar experience! I am so gratified by the openness and genuine interest that students bring to these classes. Working with them is such a pleasure–it feeds my own writing and thinking about poetry. I know it’s a huge cliche, but I really do learn as much from them as they learn from me. If all goes as planned, Writing the Short Poem will be offered again online through The Loft during the next winter session in early 2013.
Currently, registration is open for Poetry Inspired by Art, also online through The Loft, beginning June 6. Click on the class title or go to my Workshops page for more info and to register.
The plan for these online classes is that I will teach a new class I’ve proposed for intermediate and advanced poets in the fall, called “Triggering Poetic Inspiration” and using Richard Hugo’s excellent book The Triggering Town as a framework (awating approval), then Writing the Short Poem in the winter and Poetry Inspired by Art in the summer. My goal is to have a different class each session to provide variety and to allow students who want to work with me for more than one session a way to do so without repeating (though repeating is allowed!).
Next month, (May 11-12) I will be reading and teaching a workshop in Bemidji, Minnesota, as part of the Bemidji Community Art Center’s Spoken Word Series . Click on the link or go to my Schedule page for all the info. The event is also part of The Great Twin Cities Poetry Read Road Show .
Take care everybody, and enjoy spring!
LouAnn Shepard Muhm 