Calendar Alert: Ready to See Your Poetry as a Published Collection? Try this.... July 19 or August 23

Sorry to have been a bit quiet this week; two long days of planning for The Frost Place (www.FrostPlace.org) have kept me on the road, and then I decompressed with a frantic surge of reading time: I needed to find out what the buzz meant about Stephenie Meyer and her new series that's been both a teen and adult hit, so I cruised just about nonstop through the first volume, TWILIGHT. If you've become a Meyer fan, you're waiting for the fourth volume to come out later this month. Meyer is an impresive writer of mixed romance/thriller at the young adult level -- think Ann Rice with a rapid pace and the amazement of boy meets girl at high school level. I'm glad I tackled the tale.

Now, back to POETRY (and tomorrow, Scottish mystery). Kingdom Books will host its second summer Poets' Brunch on Saturday July 12 at 11 a.m. with poet/publisher April Ossmann, who sent us the following announcement. As she mentioned, this will be handy for poets who came to her reading with us last year and already knew they wanted to meet her publisher side.

Crash Course: Thinking Like a Poetry Editor: How to Be Your Own Best Critic
Instructor: April Ossmann (author of Anxious Music, Four Way Books, 2007, and Executive Director of Alice James Books)
Saturday, July 19th OR Saturday, August 23rd
10am–12:00 p.m.
$45

Learn how to think like a poetry editor! In this one-session workshop we’ll turn the usual workshop model on its head and not only allow the poet being critiqued to speak, but to speak first and critique their own poem, discussing correlations between the criticisms s/he has for other participants’ poems and her/his own before group discussion begins. This will offer a taste of what it means to be both poet and poetry editor, a position in which it becomes easier to objectively assess your own work; to spot dull vs. energetic syntax, generic vs. original imagery and other strengths and weaknesses you may have overlooked. It also empowers the poet in the process, and engenders an unusually congenial workshop atmosphere. Participants are invited to send two poems (no more than two pages total) prior to the workshop. We will address one or both poems in the class (depending on time constraints). Participants will receive written editorial suggestions for both poems from the instructor. Pre-registration required; limited enrollment. Info: aprilossmann@hotmail.com or (207) 645-3107.

Visit www.thewriterscenterwrj.com for ongoing updates and other seminars.