A Day of Poetry

This past Friday I held a Day of Poetry at my house. This is something I've done a few times before. Here's how it goes: I invite a gang of girl poets to my house, 10:30 AM to about 4:00 PM. These are women who are good poets and who enjoy doing prompts and spending a day just concentrating on generating new work.

After some preliminary yakking, we sit in a circle in my family room and take turns giving each other prompts. Four of the poets have been asked to bring a prompt and mine makes #5. After each prompt is given, we take 20 minutes for drafting. I keep a timer by my chair and am fairly firm about not adding more time. There's something very creative, I think, about the squeeze of a time limit. No time to think or worry, just to write. Then we go around the circle and each poet reads her draft. This is a safe way to share first drafts as it's what everyone has in front of her. There's no expectation of perfection.

We offer minimal commentary, no official critiquing. My belief is that the poet ought to have an opportunity to revise and revise before receiving serious responses. But we offer appreciative hmm's and ahh's. We comment on what knocked us out. Then we move onto the next prompt.

We did two in the morning session. Then we broke for lunch. I provided sandwiches and a pasta salad. The three poets who hadn't brought prompts each contributed something to the lunch—a fruit salad, cheese and crackers, cookies. The weather was nice to us and did not rain as had been threatened, so three of us ate outside on the patio while four ate in the kitchen. Good food and good poetry talk. We were well fed in every way. There was no happiness like ours.

Then we returned to our circle and did three more prompts. So by the end of the day we each had drafts for five new poems! I expect to get several keepers out of the batch, and I know the others will too.

Now I've heard some poets say they don't like prompts. I've heard the implication that real poets don't use prompts, don't need prompts. Well, I'm a real poet, and I love prompts. Bring them on. I get goose bumps if I just know someone is going to give me a prompt. I almost always end up writing something that works in some way. I always write something I would not have written without the prompt. I might have written the poem I wrote to my own prompt, but definitely not the others. If nothing else, a day of poetry is good exercise.

I'm going to give you one of our prompts as a challenge. It's going to be in two parts, so you'll do the first part today, then return tomorrow for the next part. This prompt was provided by Susan Rothbard.

Choose any two letters. Most of us used our own initials, but it could be your favorite food, song, whatever. Then brainstorm a substantial list of phrases that use those two letters, eg, dreadful loser, desperate lady, desirous of lemons. Note that you are allowed to add a few surrounding or in-between words.

See you tomorrow.

Poets getting ready to write: Mary Florio, Susan Rothbard, Jean Meyers

Poets waiting for lunch: Jean Meyers (in back), Jessica deKoninck, Susan Rothbard, Sandra Duguid

Svea Barrett and Mary Florio after lunch

Summer Poetry at the Frost Place

I've just learned that the Festival and Conference on Poetry at The Frost Place, held in Franconia, New Hampshire, still has openings for their one-week summer conference. If you're looking for a program, this one is terrific. I strongly recommend it. This is the place I first went to when I started writing poetry. I could not have picked a better place. It was exactly the place I needed. I went all nervous, not knowing if I'd be good enough, if I'd feel out of place, if I'd be lonely. But it was great. I never pursued an MFA—a late start, full-time teaching, and 3 kids stood in the way—so I instead cobbled together my own poetry education by attending workshops, conferences, and festivals. I've been to a number of other programs, but none goes so far out of its way to bring in all the participants, to make everyone feel welcome. Friendships form almost instantly. And many of them last long after the conference is over. In fact, a good number of the participants are returnees from previous years.

Here's how the program operates. It begins on Sunday morning with a meeting in Frost's barn. There are usually somewhere around 50 participants. At this meeting, everyone gets introduced. There are four resident faculty poets, all well along in their poetry careers. There is also a poet who resides in the Frost's farmhouse for the entire summer. This poet gives the craft lecture at that first session. Then on subsequent days a different well-known poet gives the morning talk.

The morning session is followed by a communal lunch on the grounds. You can sit on Frost's front porch or his back porch, or you can sit on the grass and enjoy the view of the White Mountains.

The view from Frost's lawn

Nobody is ever left to eat alone—unless by choice. After lunch participants break into small groups, each group meeting with a different resident poet. Each day, also, the guest poet meets with a group in the barn. So there is lots of variety. You meet with 5 different poets during the week. On the sixth day you audit the guest poet's workshop. Four sessions are for critiquing work you bring with you. One session is for a new poem. And one session is for a revision you do during the week. The afternoon ends around 2:30-3:00, so you have several hours to yourself. Dinner is on your own. Then each evening there is a reading in the barn with the guest poet and one of the resident poets.

Jeanne Marie Beaumont in the Barn. Note the photos of past resident poets.

Wednesday is unscheduled during the day. Lots of sights to see or you can spend time writing. Late afternoon is a picnic. Then that night is the participants reading. Unlike at some other conferences, at The Frost Place all the teaching poets attend all events. There is no sense of a class system here.

I went to the Festival and Conference on Poetry at The Frost Place for 7 years as a participant. Then I went as an auditor, attending the morning talks, using afternoons to write, and returning for the evening readings. Then I graduated to Baron Wormser's Seminar, a more intensive 5-day conference, now run by Jeanne Marie Beaumont. One of the thrills of my life was being invited in 2005 to be one of 4 guest poets at Baron's Conference on Poetry and Teaching, the third program run each year at The Frost Place. What a lovely way to complete a circle!

I owe so much to The Frost Place. It gave me confidence in myself as well as a lot of good information about how to write poetry. It also filled my spirit and sustained me throughout the year. So if you're looking for a place and you've had some experience writing poetry, are perhaps "pre-emerging" or "semi-emerging," this could be the perfect place for you. And if you're further along but want some terrific craft talks, some great company, and some beautiful scenery and good air, this could be the perfect place for you, too.

Franconia, New Hampshire, even has some flumes!

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