Poetry Mentor Newsletter from author Robert McDowell

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THE POETRY MENTOR

March 25th, 2011

Behead a month and find a beautiful form

Dear Friends,

Here is a poem about rising up in the world we find ourselves in today. Following is my invitation to you to take part in a new on-line course.

Showing Up

We are planting and sowing the new world,
Seed by seed, task by task, kindness by kindness.
We are looking courageously into the mirror
And striving to square up to the challenges
Coming our way at dizzying speed. We are present.
We are listening. Our speech is clear. Startled,
We do not flinch or stagger off the path. Weary,
We do not go to sleep. We are together.
We are with each other even as we suffer the deepest loneliness.
In our co-peril we discover our purpose and our hope.

Please join me for my new on-line workshop, The Forms of Poetry.

Over the course of eight weeks, we’ll learn to write the following poems: Haiku, Sonnet, Villanelle, Sestina, Limerick, Pantoum, Ghazal, and Prose Poem.

Beginning Sunday, April 10th, I will send participants explanations and examples of each form (one form a week). I will also send guiding prompts for writing in that form. I’ll offer feedback on each poem you write, and we’ll share our poems with each other as I collect and send them out to each of you on a regular basis.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just beginning or have been writing poetry for a long time. This workshop is full of discovery and fun for everybody. It’s a safe place for personal exploration and growth through poetry.

Won’t you join us? To register, just send me an email at poetrymentor@mac.com

The course cost for eight weeks is $95.00, payable via PayPal or by check. (Address provided on request)

Enroll today in The Forms of Poetry by emailing me at poetrymentor@mac.com

For those of you in Minnesota or near by, I’ll be conducting workshops in person for several days next month at Vermilion Community College in Ely. Here is the college’s notice.

Robert McDowell, will conduct 4 workshops over three days on poetry and spiritual practice at Vermilion Community College April 14-16, 2011. Robert McDowell has recently taught at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and Esalen. These workshops are designed for novice and advanced writers and individuals interested in exploring spirituality through the process of writing.

The workshops will use writing to summon up visions of adventure, of unexplored frontiers, and of human possibilities yet to be realized. Workshops are open to the public but require pre-registration. Registration forms and fees can be found on VCC’s website: www.vcc.edu There is a sliding scale available for low income participants. This event is sponsored by Vermilion Community College and The Second Floor Bookstore and is funded in part by the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council with money from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund as appropriated by Minnesota Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008, and an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature.

Workshops to be presented are:

Soul-Poem of Work: (April 14, 2011 4-6 p.m.) While watching seaweed harvesters in Ireland, I noticed a spiritual power emanated from them, from their work. It was something to do with their pacing, their simple, sturdy gracefulness. They were patient and reverent. Perhaps this is the most magical component of soulful work.
The Language of Love: (April 15, 2011 3-5 p.m.) The journey through poetry and journaling achieves nothing less than new consciousness, sacred partnerships in relationships, work, family, and spirituality itself.
Compassion Poetry: (April 16, 2011 9-11:30 a.m.) By communing with the poems of other, by creating our own and sharing them, we emerge from our barricades and open to opportunity and possibility.
Poetry as Spiritual Practice: (April 16, 2011 1-3:30 p.m.) The truth is, no deep personal obstacle or barrier can be cleared away until we name it, engage it, debate it, argue with it, make friends with it, and let it go.

If you can swing it, please join me in Minnesota!

May your work, life, and love be exquisite,

Robert

*
Poetry as Spiritual Practice: Reading, Writing, and Using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals, Aspirations, and Intentions is available at my website, at www.IndieBound.org, www.amazon.com, www.b&n.com, or easily ordered at your local bookstore. Thank you for supporting this work.

Robert McDowell is the author of five books of poetry and the Amazon.com bestselling Poetry as Spiritual Practice: Reading, Writing, and Using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals, Aspirations, and Intentions (Free Press/Simon & Schuster 2008). Robert is also the co-author of two volumes of literary theory, co-translator of a collection of stories by Ota Pavel that has just been reprinted in the eastern European Penguin Classics Series, and the editor of three anthologies. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in hundreds of anthologies and periodicals here and abroad, including Best American Poetry, Poetry, London Magazine, The New Criterion, Sewanee Review, and The Hudson Review. A Woolrich Fellow at Columbia University, a Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers Conference, and a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, Robert has led retreats and taught at Esalen, Kripalu, and Pine Manor, and in Bennington College’s low-residency M.F.A. Program, the University of Southern Indiana, UC Santa Cruz, Taos Writers Conference, Sewanee Writers Conference, Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, Killybegs Festival in Ireland, West Chester Conference on Form and Narrative, and many other venues.