Fall 2022 Poetry Workshop

Tony Paticchio, Ashford’s Poet Laureate, will be hosting a Fall 2022 Poetry Reading and Writing Workshop for up to ten participants via Zoom on the following six Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:40 PM:  October 5, 19, November 2, 16, 30, and December 14.

Sessions will begin with close readings and discussions of several selected poems, focusing for the most part (though not exclusively) on free verse by 20th and 21st Century poets, followed by readings and discussion of poems and short prose pieces composed by workshop participants.  We will generally have a theme for each session’s readings, and will consider and discuss not just the sense and meaning of the selected poems, but also how the poems are constructed, including, among other things, how word choice, meter, sound, tone, repetition, metaphor, line length, and speaker voice contribute to our experience of reading the poems. 

Writing participants may choose to follow the session theme, but are free to submit one to two pages of any new or revised work at each session. No prior experience reading or writing poetry is required. I will provide to all workshop participants a selected reading list of resources, as well as a glossary of terms we will want to be familiar with and use as we consider and discuss poems.

Participants:  This workshop is open to writing participants who are willing to share and workshop their own poems, as well as to those who are interested in reading and discussing poetry, but don’t now have work of their own to share.  Please indicate your preference when you contact me. 

PLEASE CONTACT TONY AT IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WORKSHOP AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE, SPECIFYING WHETHER YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE AS A WRITER AND READER, OR SOLELY AS A READER.