Share this flier! I'm feeling inspired today after the Speak Up (!) Diversity workshop (for more info., see my recent previous blog posts).
Thanks to all the workshop participants. I appreciate having the opportunity to meet these creative poets & short story/novel authors who were willing to share their thoughts about activism in writing. We shared an interesting discussion about the costs/benefits of being an activist writer, different vehicles for activism in writing and more.
Thanks to Melissa Chesanko for leading the first writing exercise, commonly known among us poets as the "exquisite corpse." This kind of poem is a group effort in which each poet writes a line, then the next poet writes a line from that line. Poets go at least three rounds of this, with everyone participating. The poem isn't revealed in its entirety until all the rounds are finished.
I haven't done an "exquisite corpse" since living in North Carolina (we used to get together in coffee shops in Fayetteville and write them). It was so much fun writing lines last night with such a creative group. I have to say, when the poem was revealed, it was indeed exquisite, one of the best I've heard.
A plan was made to share the group poem at the upcoming Oct. 22 @ 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom (The event is part of WVU Diversity Week 2013. Attendance is free.) WVU community/Morgantown area poets & enthusiasts, I hope you'll have a chance to make it out to the reading to hear this beautiful poem and to hear the creative work of diverse voices. Be sure to share the flier for the reading with your friends (copy and paste above left).
Today I feel ever more inspired, thanks to the energy of the workshop participants. We enjoyed reading great poetry together aloud ("breathing the poetry") of Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda and Liu Xiaobo. We also enjoyed watching video of spoken word artists Joe Limer and Andrea Gibson. Check out Andrea's website here, http://www.andreagibson.org. Thanks Melissa, for introducing me to the work of Andrea. Here's YouTube video of Andrea Gibson, "Letter To A Playground Bully (age 8)" we watched at the workshop. Enjoy.
Thanks to all the workshop participants. I appreciate having the opportunity to meet these creative poets & short story/novel authors who were willing to share their thoughts about activism in writing. We shared an interesting discussion about the costs/benefits of being an activist writer, different vehicles for activism in writing and more.
Thanks to Melissa Chesanko for leading the first writing exercise, commonly known among us poets as the "exquisite corpse." This kind of poem is a group effort in which each poet writes a line, then the next poet writes a line from that line. Poets go at least three rounds of this, with everyone participating. The poem isn't revealed in its entirety until all the rounds are finished.
I haven't done an "exquisite corpse" since living in North Carolina (we used to get together in coffee shops in Fayetteville and write them). It was so much fun writing lines last night with such a creative group. I have to say, when the poem was revealed, it was indeed exquisite, one of the best I've heard.
A plan was made to share the group poem at the upcoming Oct. 22 @ 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom (The event is part of WVU Diversity Week 2013. Attendance is free.) WVU community/Morgantown area poets & enthusiasts, I hope you'll have a chance to make it out to the reading to hear this beautiful poem and to hear the creative work of diverse voices. Be sure to share the flier for the reading with your friends (copy and paste above left).
Today I feel ever more inspired, thanks to the energy of the workshop participants. We enjoyed reading great poetry together aloud ("breathing the poetry") of Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda and Liu Xiaobo. We also enjoyed watching video of spoken word artists Joe Limer and Andrea Gibson. Check out Andrea's website here, http://www.andreagibson.org. Thanks Melissa, for introducing me to the work of Andrea. Here's YouTube video of Andrea Gibson, "Letter To A Playground Bully (age 8)" we watched at the workshop. Enjoy.
