Tributaries: Tongue and Ink

Session Descriptions
(All sessiosn are Saturday, February 25, 2006)

Session 1 (9:00-10:15)

The Two-Word Poem
Mike Theune

Are you kidding me?! A TWO-word poem?! Yup. And a great two-word poem is just as great, just as capable of offering resonant surprise, as any other kind of poem. During our session, we will play games and pre-write to develop our own terrific two-worders. Along the way, we'll also discuss what exactly makes a two-word poem work, and we'll speculate as to how such thinking can be applied to making successful, longer poems.

“The Business of Writing: Little Magazines, Contests, Grants & Fellowships, and Residencies.”
Jim Plath

There are so many “wannabe writers” that the competition to break through is fiercer than ever. A discussion of what lies ahead for writers who hope to advance in the field.

Session 2 (10:30-11:45)

guest author workshops--descriptions soon!

Session 3 (1:00-2:15)

History is History is History: Connecting the Innovative and the Documentary in Prose
Kass Fleisher

I'm frequently asked how -- or whether -- the more "difficult" prose poetry I write ("On the day the space shuttle flew overhead, he considered past tensions") squares with the "accessible" documentary writing I do on social issues, such as the Bear River Massacre and issues for women in higher education ("Understand: I anticipate a sexist audience. We're all sexist. Me included"). I'll present a short reading from each "type" and discuss what I take to be the false problem of difficulty, and my contention that these two "types" of writing are really the same sort: they're each articulations of the problem of history.

Title: Zen and the Art of Poetry Slam*
Robbie Q Telfer

Writing poetry to be performed (or even "slammed" as some nerdy people might say) may seem unnatural, awkward, and even lame. However, poetry's foundations are oral. Thus, by gaining a better understanding of the slam poetry movement, this session will attempt to reunite verse with its (forgotten) roots. Utilizing a method of writing adapted from the cartoonist Lynda Barry, the reunion of poetry and speech should be a happy one. And as opposed to regular reunions, no one's uncle will get drunk and make inappropriate remarks about your father getting fired.

*robbie doesn't know what "zen" is.

Overlapping Texts: Three Poems in One and Bringing In Outside Text

Dawn Teft

Do some of your poems seem to be talking too much? Would you like these poems do be more concise? Do you experience difficulty generating material for first drafts? This presentation will explain and demonstrate how to use existing text, yours or found, to produce new poems. The section on using your own text introduces a technique for finding new, often more interesting and concise, poems inside of a poem that has always felt unfinished to you, perhaps because of being too wordy, bland, overwritten, embellished . . . .
The section on generating new material provides a technique for writing poems from language found in texts published by other authors. Both techniques work well for those times when you feel you contain no more poems. This presentation is interactive at times, so bring pen and paper for the two ten-minute periods of writing. You are not required to share what you produce.

Session 4 (2:30-3:45)

The Poet, The Reader and the “Imagination’s Tongue”
David Wright

Wallace Stevens defines modern poetry as “The poem of the mind in the act of finding / What will suffice.” But most of us, writers and readers, don’t live so sufficiently in our minds. We inhabit the body, with all its pleasures and failings, as the site of our search for sufficiency. Poetry is an art uniquely situated—with its emphasis on sound and on sensuous imagery--to satisfy body and mind together. This talk will explore theoretically and practically how we might, as writers and readers, better locate our writing and understanding in the body, how poetry can, in Denise Levertov’s words, help us “taste and see . . . . all that lives / to the imagination’s tongue.”

"Why Won't My Characters Do Anything?: From Character Sketch to Short Story"
Nicole Mazarella

This session offers creative ways to explore the lives of characters to arrive at plot. Through guided writing and discussion, students will learn techniques for developing their characters and plot.

The Surreal Questionnaire
Matthew Guenette

This workshop is designed to spark poets into creating surprising images, metaphors, and juxtapositions for a poem that throws everything--even the kitchen sink--into its making. A fastball and curveball all in one. Some breakdancing required.