Poets & Patrons hosts workshops,
led by established poets.
SAVE THE DATE:
Sat., Aug. 7, Zoom Open Mic, 1–3 pm
Sat., Aug. 28, Zoom Poetry Workshop
Linda Wallin © 2017
August
Events
August 7 Poetry Open Mic on Zoom
August 3 Deadline to request a spot
August 28 Poetry Workshop on Zoom
The Villanelle: Workshop led by Debra Bruce
Poetry Open Mic August 7 via Zoom
Saturday, August 7, from 1 – 3 pm
Join us for an afternoon of poetry. Poets & Patrons is hosting an open mic for its members. If you would like to read, please e-mail Curt Vevang at curt@curtvevang.com. There will be a 5 minute maximum per poet.
Not a member? You can join Poets & Patrons by visiting our website at www.poetsandpatrons/membership-join.net. Cost for an annual membership is $20, and includes many benefits.
Singer / Songwriter Bill Johnson will be the feature during the intermission.
Deadline to request a slot is August 3. A zoom link will be sent out on August 6. You may invite friends and family to listen.
The Villanelle: a Poetry Workshop led by Debra Bruce via Zoom August 28
Saturday, August 28, from 1 – 4 pm
The villanelle is a poetic form both famous and unknown. Many readers of poetry have loved Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night,” without ever studying its pattern of repetition and rhyme, but they feel the form’s power. Many poets know the villanelle as a workshop exercise and have followed its intricate moves, sometimes ending with a thud and occasionally unleashing the form’s magic. In this class, we’ll do a close reading of some villanelles to better understand what makes this happen. Feedback will be provided for poems submitted in advance. If you haven’t read Dylan Thomas’s poem, please do; likewise, read Elizabeth Bishop’s famous villanelle, “One Art.”
Ceremony
I found a way to bring the rug upstairs.
I roll it up, then tug its heavy body.
I’m rearranging the rooms we used to share.
To slide it across the floor would take me years,
so I stand it up and let it lean on me,
shuffling with it toward the basement stairs.
Oh heavy mate—and who will greet me there?
—to usher in the new reality
of rearranging the rooms we used to share.
You wore a jacket I’d never seen you wear,
moving your things out, keeping your back to me.
I lose my grip, starting up the stairs,
but I don’t fall. The rug slides down and flares apart,
away from me, deep burgundy.
I’m rearranging the rooms we used to share.
I don’t know why I can’t just leave it where
we stashed it away—for good, apparently.
I found a way to drag it back upstairs.
I’m rearranging the rooms we used to share.
Debra Bruce from Survivors’ Picnic
Past Events
April 24, 2021
Creating Cento Poems Zoom Workshop
Led by Patrice Boyer Claeys A cento is a poem constructed from lines written by other poets. In this workshop, in addition to critiquing poems that were submitted, Patrice shared her passion for centos and helped us learn how to successfully create cento poems of our own.
April 11, 2021
Open Mic for National Poetry Month
Hosted by Curt Vevang, current members read their poems at the event.
February 27, 2021
Creating Memoir from Linked Poems
Led by Arlyn Miller
August 29, 2020
Variations on a Theme
Led by Mardelle Fortier
February 22, 2020
Travelogue, a workshop on Travel Poetry
Led by Jennifer Dotson and Maureen Tolman Flannery
August 24, 2019
Chaos In Fourteen Lines:
Writing Sonnets In Your Own Words
In Our Own Times
Led by Debra Bruce
June 22, 2019
A Moment in Time
Led by Donna Pucciani and Pamela Miller
April 27, 2019
The Name Game
Led by Gail Goepfert and Patrice Boyer Claeys
February 23, 2019
Noir, Now
Led by Jenene Ravesloot and John O’Connor
August 25, 2018
Time for a Turn
Led by Sandra Marchetti and Krystal Languell Saturday,
June 23, 2018
A Poem in Dialogue with Another Poem
Led by Jan Bottiglieri and Tony Trigilio
April 28, 2018
Verbalize It: How the Best Action Word Can Enliven Your Poem
Led by Poets & Patrons workshop chair Wilda Morris, author of Szechwan Shrimp and Fortune Cookies: Poems from a Chinese Restaurant.
February 24, 2018
Weaving Magic into Poetry
Led by Rockford poet Christine Swanberg, author of The Red Lacquer Room, Who Walks Among the Trees with Charity, The Alleluia Tree, and most recently Wild Fruition: Sonnets, Spells, and Other Incantations.
October 14, 2017
Golden Shovel Workshop
Led by Linda Wallin, president of Poets & Patrons and retired Special Education teacher.
August 26, 2017
Sonnets Are Fun!
Led by Mary Hanford, retired English professor and author of Holding to the Light (poetry), Dr. Sally’s Voodoo Man (novel), and Swimming at Villa Hugel (memoir).
June 18, 2017
Let Art Inspire Your Poetry: How to Be Ekphrastic
Led by Beth McDermott, Assistant Professor of English, St. Francis University, Joliet, and Associate Editor of RHINO
April 29, 2017
Speculative Poetry
Led by Caroline Johnson, Vice President and former President, Poets & Patrons of Chicago, and author of two chapbooks
February 25, 2017
What the Heck is a Prose Poem?
Led by Kathleen Rooney, Co-founder of Rose Metal Press and Senior Professional Lecturer, DePaul University
October 29, 2016
Music as Muse
Led by Wilda Morris, Former President, Illinois State Poetry Society, and Workshop Chair, Poets & Patrons of Chicago
August 27, 2016
Using Fairy Tale, Myth and Legend in Your Poetry
Led by Jennifer Dotson, Program Coordinator, Highland Park Poetry, and winner of Journal of Modern Poetry
Book Award
June 25, 2016
The Shape a Poem Makes
Led by Christine Swanberg, author of three books of poetry, workshop leader at The Clearing, Door County, WI
April 23, 2016
What We Can Learn About Writing Poetry from Shakespeare
Led by William Yarrow, Professor of English,
Joliet Junior College
February 27, 2016
In Praise of Praise Poems
Led by Tom Roby IV, President, Poets Club of Chicago
and creator of The Poetry Wheel, and Jenene Ravesloot, author of three books of poetry
October 17, 2015
Surrealist Game Poetry
Led by Pamela Larson, poet, artist and photographer
August 22, 2015
Musical Matters
Led by Debra Bruce, Professor Emeritus, Northeastern Illinois University, and Andrea Witzke Slot, prize-winning novelist, poet and essayist
June 27, 2015
Writing the Spiritual Poem
Led by Judith Valente, winner of the Aldrich Poetry Prize and a Catholic Book Award, and correspondent for PBS
April 25, 2015
Love Poetry with an Attitude
Led by Marilyn Taylor, former Poet Laureate of Wisconsin
February 28, 2015
Confessional Poetry
Led by Albert DeGenova, publisher and editor of
After Hours
October 25, 2014
The Fun Art of Haiku & Senryu
Led by Charlotte Digregorio, Midwest Coordinator,
Haiku Society of America and author of Haiku and
Senryu: a Simple Guide for All
August 23, 2014
Ekphrastic Poetry: Writing Poetry about Other Forms of Art
Led by Donna Vorreyer, author of 5 chapbooks and two full-length manuscripts, and Cynthia Gallaher, designated by Chicago Public Library as among its “Ten Top Requested Chicago Poets”
June 28, 2014
The Short Poem
Led by William Marr, author of more than 20 books of poetry and former President, Illinois State Poetry Society, and Patrick Dunn, Associate Professor of English,
Aurora University
April 26, 2017
Writing Chicago
Led by Caroline Johnson, author of two chapbooks, and Wilda Morris, author of Szechwan Shrimp and Fortune Cookies: Poems from a Chinese Restaurant
February 22, 2014
Persona Poems
Led by Martha Modena Vertreace-Doody, Distinguished Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence at Kennedy-King College, and Donna Pucciani, widely published, award-winning poet