Word Candy – Poetry at Studio 127 – A Conservatory for Creativity – Huntsville, AL

Guest instructor, Susan Davis will teach you how to make poems from poems. For each session, we’ll focus on two poems, taking each apart to see how they work. Then we’ll build a recipe for writing our own poems based on the ingredients we discover. This low-pressure intro to writing poetry allows you to discover by doing, learning about the elements of poetry from the inside-out. Have fun, build knowledge, and explore new forms of self-expression. Each session will have plenty of time to write and share during our time together.

1. LINE, STANZA, IMAGERY: We’ll examine the building blocks of poetry in our first lesson, line and stanza, along with imagery and the ways we use language and figures of speech to establish a mood Poems: William Carlos Williams, “This Is Just to Say”; Mary Oliver, “Sleeping in the Forest.” (1/22)
2. METAPHOR AND MUSIC: This lesson goes to the next level as we dip into the mood and magic of poetry: in particular, the layers of meaning we find in metaphor and the added dimension of rhythm and rhyme. Poems: Emily Dickinson, “Hope Is a Thing with Feathers”; Seamus Heaney, “Blackberry-Picking” (1/29)

SUSAN DAVIS has taught writing and literature to students of all ages for over three decades. A recent convert to art journaling, she is currently working on her first chapbook of poems.

You can find more about her work at susan-lucille-davis.weebly.com/ .