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What Is Found There: Current Events Into Poetry

There’s a lot of news out there. It’s bombarding us whichever way we turn. The original meaning of “news” is a “report of recent events.” But there’s a difference between the “news” we find in the daily paper or on the cable stations and, as William Carlos Williams famously wrote: “the news from poems.” Because, he added, we “die miserably every day/for lack/of what is found there.” Likewise, Ezra Pound defined poetry as “the news that stays news.” How can we poeticize the language of ‘current’ events into deeper realms? How does the daily news inspire us into poetry? We’ll explore ways we can be inspired by “current event news” into poems “of what is found [or discovered] there”— a news that “stays news.” Each session, we’ll share model poems for discussion and student poems for feedback.

Instructor:

Philip Terman’s most recent collections of poems are This Crazy Devotion (Broadstone)and Our Portion: New and Selected Poems (Autumn House), and a co-translation (with the Syrian writer Saleh Razzouk), Tango Below a Narrow Ceiling: The Poems of Riad Saleh Hussein (Bitter Oleander). A selection of his poems, My Dear Friend Kafka, was translated into Arabic and published by Nimwa Press in Damascus, Syria. Poems and essays have been published in PoetryThe Sun, Poetry International, The Kenyon Review, The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, and other journals and anthologies. A co-founder of the Chautauqua Writers Festival, he now directs the Bridge Literary Arts Center in Franklin, PA. He has collaborated with composers, painters, and sculptors, and often performs his poetry with the jazz band, Catro. He is a retired professor of English at Clarion University of PA, where he taught courses in creative writing and literature.  

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Details: What Is Found There: Current Events Into Poetry takes place Tuesdays from October 15 through November 19, 6:30-8:30 pm online via Zoom. 

Prerequisite: One creative writing workshop or generative class.

Genre: Poetry

Level: Intermediate

Format: Generative Workshop

Location: This class takes place online via Zoom

Size: Limited to 12 participants (including scholarships).

Scholarships: Two scholarship spots are available for this class for writers in Northeast Ohio. Apply by August 19.

Cancellations & Refunds: Cancel at least 48 hours in advance of the first class meeting to receive a full refund. Email info@litcleveland.org.

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