April 5, 2022 • POETRY WORKSHOP • Anita Skeen – The Ten-Line Poem in the Time of Crisis
7:00 – 8:30 PM EST
For most of us, our lives have changed dramatically in the last two years. We have lost a lot during the time of COVID. But there is, or can be, a silver lining to this dark cloud: we have time, if we take it, to notice the small things we would have missed in the normal fast pace of our frantic pre-pandemic lives. There are treasures around us we have left undiscovered. There are small moments of joy that are more important now than they were. In this workshop we will write about these experiences in poems of only ten lines. We will write with a new understanding of the power of the small, tight poem, one which requires that we eliminate the unnecessary trappings of explanation, one which works from the outset toward memorable closure through image, detail, association, and revelation. Through the magic of Zoom, we will read together some wonderful 10-line poems, followed by time to write a draft, followed by time to share, if writers so choose.
About the workshop facilitator:
Anita Skeen is currently Professor Emerita in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University where she was the Founding Director of The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU and is the Series Editor for Wheelbarrow Books. She taught students in kindergarten through high school while working with the Kansas Arts Commission’s Artist in the Schools Program; in traditional venues such as college classrooms; as a Visiting Writer and Writer in Residence; and in senior citizens’ centers, libraries, and at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. She has been the Coordinator of the Creative Arts Program at Ghost Ranch for 42 years, and the Fall Writing Festival for 24 years.
Skeen is the author of six volumes of poetry: Each Hand A Map (1986); Portraits (1990); Outside the Fold, Outside the Frame (1999); The Resurrection of the Animals (2002); Never the Whole Story (2011); When We Say Shelter (2007), with Oklahoma poet Jane Taylor; and The Unauthorized Audubon (2014), a collection of poems about imaginary birds accompanied by the linocuts of anthropologist/visual artist Laura B. DeLind. With Taylor, she co-edited the literary anthology Once Upon A Place: Writings from Ghost Ranch (2008). Her poetry, short fiction, and essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. Collaboration is an important aspect of her work and she is currently involved in writing projects with poets Jane Taylor and Cindy Hunter Morgan, and visual artist Laura DeLind. In 2015, she received the William J. Beale Outstanding Faculty Award at Michigan State University.
All Poetry Workshops take place via Zoom at 7:00pm EST.
7:00 – 8:30 PM EST
For most of us, our lives have changed dramatically in the last two years. We have lost a lot during the time of COVID. But there is, or can be, a silver lining to this dark cloud: we have time, if we take it, to notice the small things we would have missed in the normal fast pace of our frantic pre-pandemic lives. There are treasures around us we have left undiscovered. There are small moments of joy that are more important now than they were. In this workshop we will write about these experiences in poems of only ten lines. We will write with a new understanding of the power of the small, tight poem, one which requires that we eliminate the unnecessary trappings of explanation, one which works from the outset toward memorable closure through image, detail, association, and revelation. Through the magic of Zoom, we will read together some wonderful 10-line poems, followed by time to write a draft, followed by time to share, if writers so choose.
About the workshop facilitator:
Anita Skeen is currently Professor Emerita in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University where she was the Founding Director of The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU and is the Series Editor for Wheelbarrow Books. She taught students in kindergarten through high school while working with the Kansas Arts Commission’s Artist in the Schools Program; in traditional venues such as college classrooms; as a Visiting Writer and Writer in Residence; and in senior citizens’ centers, libraries, and at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. She has been the Coordinator of the Creative Arts Program at Ghost Ranch for 42 years, and the Fall Writing Festival for 24 years.
Skeen is the author of six volumes of poetry: Each Hand A Map (1986); Portraits (1990); Outside the Fold, Outside the Frame (1999); The Resurrection of the Animals (2002); Never the Whole Story (2011); When We Say Shelter (2007), with Oklahoma poet Jane Taylor; and The Unauthorized Audubon (2014), a collection of poems about imaginary birds accompanied by the linocuts of anthropologist/visual artist Laura B. DeLind. With Taylor, she co-edited the literary anthology Once Upon A Place: Writings from Ghost Ranch (2008). Her poetry, short fiction, and essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. Collaboration is an important aspect of her work and she is currently involved in writing projects with poets Jane Taylor and Cindy Hunter Morgan, and visual artist Laura DeLind. In 2015, she received the William J. Beale Outstanding Faculty Award at Michigan State University.
All Poetry Workshops take place via Zoom at 7:00pm EST.
7:00 – 8:30 PM EST
For most of us, our lives have changed dramatically in the last two years. We have lost a lot during the time of COVID. But there is, or can be, a silver lining to this dark cloud: we have time, if we take it, to notice the small things we would have missed in the normal fast pace of our frantic pre-pandemic lives. There are treasures around us we have left undiscovered. There are small moments of joy that are more important now than they were. In this workshop we will write about these experiences in poems of only ten lines. We will write with a new understanding of the power of the small, tight poem, one which requires that we eliminate the unnecessary trappings of explanation, one which works from the outset toward memorable closure through image, detail, association, and revelation. Through the magic of Zoom, we will read together some wonderful 10-line poems, followed by time to write a draft, followed by time to share, if writers so choose.
About the workshop facilitator:
Anita Skeen is currently Professor Emerita in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University where she was the Founding Director of The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU and is the Series Editor for Wheelbarrow Books. She taught students in kindergarten through high school while working with the Kansas Arts Commission’s Artist in the Schools Program; in traditional venues such as college classrooms; as a Visiting Writer and Writer in Residence; and in senior citizens’ centers, libraries, and at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. She has been the Coordinator of the Creative Arts Program at Ghost Ranch for 42 years, and the Fall Writing Festival for 24 years.
Skeen is the author of six volumes of poetry: Each Hand A Map (1986); Portraits (1990); Outside the Fold, Outside the Frame (1999); The Resurrection of the Animals (2002); Never the Whole Story (2011); When We Say Shelter (2007), with Oklahoma poet Jane Taylor; and The Unauthorized Audubon (2014), a collection of poems about imaginary birds accompanied by the linocuts of anthropologist/visual artist Laura B. DeLind. With Taylor, she co-edited the literary anthology Once Upon A Place: Writings from Ghost Ranch (2008). Her poetry, short fiction, and essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. Collaboration is an important aspect of her work and she is currently involved in writing projects with poets Jane Taylor and Cindy Hunter Morgan, and visual artist Laura DeLind. In 2015, she received the William J. Beale Outstanding Faculty Award at Michigan State University.
All Poetry Workshops take place via Zoom at 7:00pm EST.