Unless otherwise noted, all workshops are held via Zoom.
Please email jswilliams1307@gmail.com to register.
Accepted forms of payment: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or mailed check.
Similar to the goals of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), the aims of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you!
Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work.
What This Workshop Provides:
· 30 Days’ Worth of Writing Prompts
· A professional critique of all 30 poems as you send them, be it one each day or all 30 at the end of the month
· Ability to ask John writing questions any time during the month
This workshop will delve deeply into a number of Limón’s poems, including her themes, style, and perspective, focusing on his nature, family, and cultural/political poems, via active group discussion and writing prompts and some writing time to help you engage more directly with and be inspired by her work…putting her lessons into practice. And the class includes a 43-page handout!
An oft misunderstood yet absolutely essential element of all poetry, punctuation has the capacity to entirely change the way a poem is meant to be read, visualized, and interpreted. From slashes and colons to em-dashes and no punctuation at all, this intensive three-hour workshop will focus on the power, tension, and surprise the right punctuation can create in a poem.
We will study diverse works that successfully employ commanding punctuation to subtly and boldly experiment with language and meaning, including poems by Emily Dickinson, Dana Levin, Carl Phillips, Franny Choi, Frank Bidart, Natalie Diaz, Philip Metres, and many others. This intimate workshop will include lessons, analysis of well-known poems, in-class activities and writing, and sharing drafts with the class.
THE WORKSHOP INCLUDES:
· A two-and-a-half-hour session with poem exploration and Q&A
· Plenty of time to experiment with all punctuation forms
· Nearly a dozen prompts and writing activities
· Bonus sample poems for future inspiration
· Active discussion of sample poems from diverse contemporary poets
· A chance to more intimately engage with a small, focused writing community
YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION
Join award-winning poet John Sibley Williams for a two-hour generative workshop where we’ll examine how the right title sets a poem up for success. In this workshop, we will examine how titles (and epigraphs) can do the heavy lifting to work multiple levels, inform every stanza, tighten arguments, and provide a container for tension, revelation, and economy.
IN THIS WORKSHOP, YOU WILL:
Write titles so strong readers will return to them after the poem is over
Reframe thinking about the importance of a title
Gain confidence in building context before the first stanza
Learn how using metaphor as title can act as a vehicle for commentary
THE WORKSHOP INCLUDES:
· A two-hour session with poem exploration and Q&A
· Plenty of time to experiment with all new titles for your poems
· Various prompts and writing activities
· Active discussion of sample poems from diverse contemporary poets
· A chance to more intimately engage with a small, focused writing community
Are you interested in organizing a chapbook or poetry manuscript? This intensive manuscript workshop will teach participants different ways one can begin to compile a poetry manuscript. Expect to view manuscript samples and discuss techniques that can be applied to the process.
We will explore all the ins-and-outs of organization and publishing a chapbook or full-length, from writing toward a given theme to setting and keeping to creative deadlines to learning how to submit smarter, not harder. Poets will be guided through a series of lessons and hands-on activities that each focus on a different aspect of creating, structuring, and finally publishing a new collection.
Topics include selecting the best title, focusing on your first and last pieces, finding the thematic threads in your writing, organizing the entire collection so that it reads smoothly, deciding which structure works best for you, and submitting individual pieces to magazines and the book as a whole to publishers and contests.
Learn how to:
· Set writing goals and make creative action plans
· Make your work stand out
· Get more acceptances…and faster
· Submit smarter, not harder, to both journals and presses
· Discover the thematic threads in your writing and how to weave them across a collection
· Reshape previous poems to fit the themes and style of your collection
· Order poems within a manuscript for cohesion and flow
· Write powerful introductory and closing poems for your collection
· Choose the right book title, poem titles, and epigraphs
And I will be donating 50% of all your registration fees to an incredible local charity: Mother & Child Education Center!
Writing poetry about mothers and the experience of motherhood is not easy because the act of mothering/being mothered is both beautiful and complicated. As more writers explore the lessons unique to this deeply personal passage and bond, the audience for motherhood poetry expands. In this generative workshop, we will explore motherhood/mothering as transformation, read from a diverse selection of mother-poets, and discuss how and why motherhood matters are relevant to all readers.
Weekly topics include, but are not limited to: Mothers on Mothering, Pregnancy & Birth, Watching Them Grow, The Bad Days, The Good Days, Losing a Child, and Children on Their Mothers.
Using a variety of activities, you can expect to leave with at least two poem drafts each class, while also studying over a dozen poems each session from a wide variety of contemporary poets.