The Massachusetts Poetry Festival 2015

B.H. Fairchild’s speaker in “The Blue Buick: A Narrative” says

… an able catcher sets his feet
to avoid the extra step that makes him miss
the steal at second, a poet hears the syllable
before the word, a good machinist “feels” the cut
before he measures it.

The leaders will offer a series of prompts that position a poet to hear the next “syllable before the word.” During the workshop itself participants will begin responding to four of these prompts together so that they leave with four new poems started, each employing a different strategy for writing sound to sound. B.H. Fairchild’s speaker in “The Blue Buick: A Narrative” says

… an able catcher sets his feet
to avoid the extra step that makes him miss
the steal at second, a poet hears the syllable
before the word, a good machinist “feels” the cut
before he measures it.

The leaders will offer a series of prompts that position a poet to hear the next “syllable before the word.” During the workshop itself participants will begin responding to four of these prompts together so that they leave with four new poems started, each employing a different strategy for writing sound to sound. The workshop is limited to 15 participants.

Storytelling is the way humans impart their traditions and feelings through the generations. Poets and editors from Naugatuck River Review (a journal of narrative poetry) will present a workshop on writing our stories in compressed narrative, concentrating on the inclusion of a strong emotional core and the elements of story such as plot, setting and lyrical language.