JoEllen Moldoff, Writer’s Roundtable and poetry class facilitator, has planned a Winter Poetry Fest to meet Tuesdays, February 5 through March 5 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Public Library.
“In each class we will explore the work of a poet of our time who has been widely recognized for his/her work. We’ll read poems and talk about them from the point of view of style, craft, imagery, form, voice and content. For those who wish to write, poetry assignments will be given.
“All are welcome!Registration is at the first session. Fee: $15, paid to the instructor, for copying costs and donation to the library. All poems will be provided to participants.
We will NOT “tie the poem to a chair with rope/and force a confession out of it”, as described by Billy Collins in the following poem:
Introduction to Poetry
Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
