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images & rhythms
a unique poetry event
Click on title for details
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featured
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workshops |
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schedule |
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registration |
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ludington |
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accommodations |
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featured poets/faculty
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mary
jo firth gillett
Mary
Jo Firth Gillett's poetry collection, Soluble Fish, won the
Crab Orchard Series First Book award. Her three award-winning
chapbooks are Not One (Detroit Writer's Voice), Tiger in a
Hairnet (Small Poetry Press, Select Poet's Series), and Chandeliers
of Fish (Poetry West). Mary Jo's poems have been published widely
in journals such as The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review,
Harvard Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Sycamore Review, Green
Mountain Review, and Margie. She won the N.Y. Open Voice
Poetry Award and teaches advanced poetry workshops for Springfed
Arts/Metro Detroit Writers. Her MFA is from Vermont College. |
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judith minty
Judith Minty's first book, Lake Songs
and Other Fears, received the United States Award of the
International Poetry Forum in 1973. Since then she has published four
other full-length collections of poetry including: Yellow Dog
Journal, In The Presence Of Mothers, Dancing The Fault; and Walking
with the Bear, and three chapbooks including: Letters To My
Daughters, Counting The Losses and The Mad Painter Poems. Minty’s
poetry, essays and short stories have been published in numerous
magazines and in over fifty anthologies. Her work has been recognized
with numerous honors, including the Villa Montalvo Award for
Excellence in Poetry and the Eunice Tietjens Award from Poetry
magazine.
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josie kearns
Josie Kearns had two books published in
2009, the poetry collection The
Theory of Everything (Mayapple
Press) and poetry chapbook Alphabet
of the Ocean (March
Street Press). Her earlier books are the poetry collection New
Numbers (New Issues
2000) and the nonfiction book Life
After the Line (Wayne
State University Press 1990). Josie has won numerous awards for her
work, which has also appeared in Kansas
Quarterly, Moving Out, The Iowa Review, The Georgia Review, and Poetry
Northwest, and
other journals. She teaches creative writing at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor. |
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diane seuss
Diane Seuss Writer
in Residence at Kalamazoo College.
Her most recent poetry collection isWolf
Lake, White Gown Blown Open,
which won
the 2009 Juniper Prize for Poetry (U of Mass Press 2010). Her first
collection was It
Blows You Hollow (New
Issues, 1998). Recent work has appeared in Poetry,
New Orleans Review, The Georgia Review, Hanging Loose and
Brevity. |
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phillip sterling
Phillip Sterling’s most recent poetry collection is Abeyance,
winner of the Frank Cat Press Chapbook Award 2007. Other books include
Quatrains (Pudding
House 2006), Significant
Others (Main
Street Rag 2005), and Mutual
Shores (New
Issues 2000). He is the editor ofImported Breads: Literature of Cultural Exchange (Mammoth
2003) and founding coordinator of the Literature In Person (LIP)
Reading Series at Ferris State University, where he has taught for
many years. A short fiction collection is forthcoming from Wayne State
University Press.
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keith taylor
Poet and writer Keith Taylor coordinates the undergraduate
program in creative writing at
the University of Michigan and formerly managed Shaman Drum, a leading independent book
store. He directs the Bear
River Writer's Conference held
every spring at Walloon Lake. He has
published eleven volumes: collections of poetry and short fiction,
edited volumes, and translations. His work has appeared in such
publications as Story, The
Los Angeles Times, Alternative Press, The
Southern Review, Michigan
Quarterly Review, Notre
Dame Review, The
Iowa Review, Witness, Chicago
Tribune, and Hanging
Loose. His most recent book, If
the World Becomes So Bright, was
published in 2009 by Wayne State University Press. |
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workshops
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Our poetry workshops
are the main focus of images and rhythms. The conference offers
registered conference participants a choice between traditional
approaches and unique new directions.
Workshops will meet
Friday morning from 9 to noon and Saturday morning from 9 to noon.
Participants will be in workshop with the same faculty member, and the
same participants for both days. Workshop size will be strictly
limited to only six registered participants, rather than the ten to
twelve participants common in other poetry workshops. This smaller
size will give each participant maximum attention for their work, and
hopefully a more intense and meaningful experience.
Below are descriptions
of our workshops.
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Mary
Jo Firth Gillett - Images & Rhythms from Childhood: The Rite of
Passage Poem
A
sudden awareness, even in the early years, can leave us forever
changed. We'll read and discuss examples of childhood epiphany
poems in a handout and also explore exercises designed to help
workshop participants write their own rite of passage poem(s). Also,
bring seven copies of several of your own poems to each workshop
session for discussion. They need not be "rite of passage" poems.
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Judith
Minty - A traditional poetry
workshop by this master poet and teacher
Participants will
bring 3 to 5 poems to workshop, poems that are not quite finished or
have given them trouble or where the direction to take is not clear.
Also, Judith says, "if they
are working on a theme or have a particular problem with work that
they have brought with them, or they may get a new poem or two from
the energy given off by the others in the group in the Friday
session."
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Josie
Kearns - Revision, and an introduction to Tagmemics
This
workshop will concentrate on the poetry of the participants, focusing
on options for revision and seeing the work with fresh eyes.
Josie will also present a method for adding depth and detail to your
work using Tagmemics, a nine-point imaging system used to enhance
whatever you are writing.
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Diane
Seuss -
Ah, the speaker is a slippery beast!
The workshop will focus upon invigorating the speaker of your poems.
How can your "I" become uber-You--mythic, transgressive, glamorous,
authoritative? What masks and costumes might adorn your speaker, and
what happens when the masks come off? No prescriptions here. Just a
broad and energetic exploration.
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Phillip Sterling - The Horse: Myth,
Metaphor, Movement, Mystique
This workshop will consist of readings and
discussions of poems in which the horse is used as an image, in one
form or another, followed by exercises that will lead participants to
compose at least three poems in which the horse is used as symbol,
metaphor, allusion, or part of a narrative. The workshop will also include an
afternoon field trip and physical
interaction with the subject matter. No equine experience necessary.
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Keith
Taylor - Writing short things in prose
Keith says - "I have been thinking about those
short things in prose (at least since I published a collection of them
in 1995), whether they are called prose poems, vignettes, flash
fictions or short shorts. I think there are differences, and it is fun
(and instructive) to think about those differences. When we think
about them, I've found that it gets easier to try writing some of
them." Bring some of your own, and work on others in workshop.
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the
schedule
All activities take place at the Ludington Area Center
for the Arts
Thursday, September 30
5 to 6 pm - registration
6 to 7 pm - Dinner for all
7 pm - Faculty reading
Friday, October 1
8 to 9 am - Continental
breakfast
9 am to Noon - Workshop
2 to 3 pm - Panel discussion
3:15 to 4:15 pm - About
Literary Journals
7 pm - Faculty reading
Saturday, October 2
8 to 9 am - Continental
breakfast
9 am to Noon - Workshop
2 to 3:30 pm - Participant
reading
7 pm - Faculty reading
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registration
We are determined to keep images and rhythms
as affordable as possible, so the cost is only $150, which must be paid in
full at time of registration. There is a $25 non-refundable deposit, and
there will be no refunds after September 15.
There are two ways to pay your registration fee - by
check with your mailed registration form, or using your credit card
through PayPal. If you use PayPal, you still must send us a completed
registration form. To pay using PayPal, go to our
Support Us page and click on the Donation Button at the bottom of the
page.
Click here for printable registration form
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ludington
We hope you love Ludington as much as we do. Our small town on the
big lake has so much to offer. The way one local inn so
aptly describes itself could be applied to all of Ludington -
Charmingly Retro. Click below for everything you need to know about
our town.
Visit
Ludington
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accommodations
We are currently negotiating with a
downtown hotel for a discounted conference rate. We will announce the rate
soon. In the meantime, if you wish to see everything available, use this
link
Where to stay
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