I recently attended the Glen Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I participated in a poetry workshop led by Marilyn Nelson, former poet laureate of Connecticut and the director of Soul Mountain, a retreat for writers. She is the author of such notable books as In the Fields of Praise, Fortune’s Bones, and Carver.
I very much enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Marilyn Nelson and the members of the workshop, all poets dedicated to sharing and improving their craft, who worked together with humor and intelligence all week. Some of the things the poets said and questions they asked stood out to me as relevant to any poet’s education:
“What is the emotional core of this poem?” Devon Dugan-Miller
“Control the release of information into the poem – when the reader knows what.” John Balke
It is not necessary to over-explain something in a poem, so don’t preach … “Trust your reader” (Jane Beal quoting Jeannine Nyangira) to understand what you are saying.
“All you have to do is see the scene clearly in your mind and then describe it.” Marilyn Nelson
“What is this poem about for you?” Linda Roberts-Baca
“Like Charles SImic, choose an image, and then let the image bloom in a surreal way.” Marilyn Nelson
Workshopping and Revising Poems
When a poem was too short or too dense, we learned to “sustain” the imagery or ideas – to add words, lines, even stanzas as necessary. When the poem was too long or prolix, we learned to “tighten” the wording. Other advice along these lines included: “The poem can be too long because we are still tied to the experience. Drive home to the point. Go back and revise” … “Get rid of words that aren’t doing anything” … “Suggest it, don’t perform it.” — or, as Ezra Pound used to say, “cut the fat.” Underline all the words that could be more specific and evocative. Always ask, “What words are not essential?”
Since the first word and the last word of a line of poetry are so important, we learned to look carefully at our line breaks. One day, Marilyn said, “It’s a very seductive danger to tie a poem up neatly.” So we looked carefully at our endings, too, to make sure they were not overly simplistic.
We discussed unobtrusive rhymes and how to handle forms so deftly that they became invisible – or how to expand forms beyond restrictive rules to make them work for the subjects of our poems.
I was happy that Marilyn’s philosophy allowed poets whose work was being critiqued to talk about their intentions, but advised against trying to defend the poem. Just listen to feedback … 🙂
Exercises: We were invited to write a poem from a man’s perspective in a woman’s perspective, to change the verb tenses in the poem from past to present or the verb moods from subjunctive to indicative, or to identify a “jumping off place” in a poem and develop new poems in ways that surprise the reader with new realities. We could consider re-ordering the stanzas of a given poem to see how that changes the progression and meaning. We also discussed letting the speaker of a given poem step aside, the lyric “I,” and the possibility of rewriting to foreground a third person subject. It was noted that Mary Kingsley, who used to teach at the University of Chicago, has a book out that contains many additional exercises for growing poets.
Poems we read or referenced: “The Jane Bird Hospital in Delhi” By William Meredith, the “Book of Yolek,” “Northern Pike” by Wright, Elizabeth Bishop’s fishy poem, “St. Judas,” “The Illiterate” by Meredith, “Song of Myself” by Whitman, poems by Emily Dickinson … and so many more!
Resources:
The Making of a Poem
The Columbia Anthology of American Poetry (ed. Jay Parini)
Naked Poetry
The New Narrative Poem (by Mark Jarmon)
The Flower Poet by Deborah Weistem?
Wild Iris (by Louise Glück)
Greenhouse Poems (by Theodore Roethke)
Rothenberg’s Holocaust poems
Kettle Bottom by Diane Gilliam
The Wandering King by Theodore Deppe
Detroit poems by Philip Levine
Minneapolis poems by James Wright
Pittsburg poems by Gerald Stern
Texas poems by Betty Adbock
“The Awful Rowing toward God” by Anne Sexton
“Kyrie” by Allen Bryant Voigt
rhyming dictionary by Clement Moore or rhymezone.com
Twigs and Knucklebones by Sarah Lindsey
In all, a very good learning experience!
*p.s. “Neither the hair shirt nor the soft birth will do. The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s hunger meet.” – Beuchner
thanks, Jane! great summary of a well-packed week.
Dear Jane,
What a beautiful blog and what a talented person you are: I know because I listened to your CD, driving from Santa Fe to ABQ, enjoying your poetry and your singing (and I was, also, one of the few people to stay up till 11:00 pm at Friday’s Open Mic to hear you sing your song/poem live!).
I, also, thank you, and everyone in our workshop, for a wonderful week together in Santa Fe. The gifts in that room were breath-taking! 🙂 Also, if anyone is plannning to attend next summer and would like to find less expensive housing in Santa Fe (and commute), look on my facebook page (of course, you’ll have to be my friend to see it)–there’s a place called Casa de Toros and it’s $70+/day, 3 blocks from the plaza.
Finally, I hope many of you will send a poem, monthly, to Becky to keep a poetry connection/community going. Blessings!
Brilliant Jane! I am so grateful to each of you for allowing me to learn from your insight, your humor, your poetry, and your relationship with God. I am awed by all of your many gifts and humbleness. Fortunately, I am still in Santa Fe soaking up the culture, hiking in the mountains, taking day trips, reflecting on our time together, gathering lots of material, and attending some terrific opera. Wish you all were here.
Please keep in touch and I’d love to read more of everyone’s poetry.
Your friend,
Jimmy
Wow, Jane, What a great summary of the week. You are an elequent and faithful observer!
Hey Dr Beal,
I attended the Glen Workshop two years ago, where, among other things, I took the songwriting workshop with Over the Rhine and stepped on Luci Shaw’s foot in the dinner line. It was great! Sounds like your workshop was pretty focused and helpful. You think you’ll revisit the Glen? I hope to if I ever have money. Maybe we’ll see each other there.
Thanks Jane, that was informative, I have a thing or two from your summary. Now I know why people repond well to my simple poems. I am working on making my craft better. Once again thanks