Literary Hook: The Clearing offers poetry camp

Christine Swanberg, Author and Poe

Each spring, we begin our series about writers offerings at The Clearing in Door County, Wisconsin. Many people in the stateline are familiar with the delights of the Door.

The Clearing is a beautiful site on the cliffs overlooking Green Bay, where the sunsets are often that particular Nordic pink I havent found elsewhere. The Clearing offers a week to do your own thing in the company of kindred spirits.

Purely for poets is the following unique May offering:

Poetry Camp: Sending Poetry Into the World, May 24-30

Spend a beautiful spring week at The Clearing writing new poems into the prompts and poems you bring, revising your poems and creating ways for your poetry to connect to the world. This class will consider the places and forms in which poetry appears, from journals to broadsides to anthologies; how to make poetry work for the reader: and where to find readers, from local to e-zine journals, musician and artist collaborations, etc.

Bring 10 prompts for writingfive objects, images or photos, and five of your poems that are important to you. Also, bring your notebook and pen, and three poems you would like to have critiqued in private session. Bring a one-page poem, by someone other than yourself, to read when introducing yourself (and your new poet) to the group Sunday night.

This class will be taught by Robin Chapman. For more information about her, the class, The Clearing, and registration, call toll-free at 1-877-854-3225 or access online at www.theclearing.org.

Also, if you are interested in writing using birds for inspiration, you might want to take the Writershop offered along with the Nothing but Birds show at Womanspace Center, here in Rockford, 1-3 p.m., April 18, $20. This one is not for poets only. All genres and experiments OK. Call 1-815-877-0118 for more details or to register.

Christine Swanberg is a local author and poet who has written several books of poetry and formerly wrote a column called The Writers Garret for this newspaper.

from the April 15-21, 2009, issue