PoeTree: Words.Place.People Summer 2008 Poetry Workshops During the summer of 2008, I served as the poet-in-residence at Gilpin County Public Library. This was the first time the library supported an artist-in-residence, so I had a lot of leeway to create my own programming! I offered free poetry writing workshops for all ages and organized a poetry reading with three featured poets at the end of the summer. All workshops listed below are for adults and kids who have never written poetry before as well as established poets. I am available to offer any of these workshops to your class or small group. Please contact me if you are interested: chris@christineweeber.net   Elementary Students: Pears, Glue, and Ravioli: What do pears, glue, and ravioli have in common? Come and find out! We’ll make our poems out of the silliest found objects we can imagine! Word Dance: Keeping time with rhythm and rhyme. We’ll read and move to other people’s poems and create our own Word Dances.   Ekphrasis: Poetry and Visual Art: Meet at an art gallery, where we’ll read and write collaborative poetry about art. What can shapes, images, textures, shadow and light, and color teach us about seeing and writing the world?   Junior and Senior High Students: Are Your Favorite Musicians POETS?: Bring your favorite CDs/tapes (with lyrics) to this workshop. Do your favorite songs spin around in your head? Let’s look at those lyrics. Are they poems or not? What makes a poem? We’ll listen to and read lyrical poems and write some of our own in response. Write On: Spoken Word Poetry: From African griots to countercultural Beat poets and hip-hop/spoken word poets, spoken word has been used to remember history, criticize and humor social norms, and dream us into a better future. We’ll look at this history, and we’ll jump in and create our own spoken word poetry. Ekphrasis: Poetry and Visual Art: Meet at an art gallery, where we’ll read and write poetry about art. What can we say from within the piece, from outside of the piece, and by using words inspired by the piece? We'll explore what shapes, images, textures, shadow and light, and color teach us about seeing and writing the world.   Adults: From Journaling to Poetry: Do you keep a journal? Would you like to? We’ll journal inward and outward to explore how we can find the beginnings of poetry in these daily or weekly writings. Nature Lover’s Poetry: Robert Frost, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver, and more—we’ll explore the work of these poets (and others) and write our own nature poetry! Ekphrasis: Poetry and Visual Art: Meet at an art gallery, where we’ll read and write poetry about art. What can we say from within the piece, from outside of the piece, and by using words inspired by the piece? We'll explore what shapes, images, textures, shadow and light, and color teach us about seeing and writing the world.  Poetry & History at Lincoln Hills Resort, Gilpin County: We’ll take a tour of this historic African American resort (1920s – 1960s), listen to poetry by African Americans of the era (esp. Langston Hughes), and write our own poetry, reflecting on the multiple meanings of retreat. During segregation, Lincoln Hills served as the only African American resort west of the Mississippi River. At the time, African Americans could not visit or stay in white-only hotels, restaurants, or resorts. Connect with the spirit of previous visitors such as Zora Neale Hurston, Lena Horne, and Duke Ellington.   Seniors: Poetry Writing Workshop: no experience necessary Memories, history, our lives here in Gilpin County, dreams…writing to music, or being inspired by colors...everything is fair game for getting the creative juices flowing. Join us and see where your muse takes you. We’ll read a few poems together and respond by writing our own.