~ Poetry for all Your Senses ~
(link to detailed description of online distance learning course )Poetry is in our nature, to breathe it in and out again; to experience and control that breath that heightens all our senses.
Poetry is often described as either an interior experience, one that reflects the physical and emotional state of the poet, or an exterior one, the experience of nature or society.
It is really both and like a handshake or a hug it must also bring the reader and the reader’s experience of the world into this intimate process.
We are all poets because we all experience these worlds of our interior and exterior lives, but only some of us learn to reach out with our senses and express that poetry.
In this course we will be starting at the beginning, at your perception of the world, and moving toward a polished poem that combines those four elements that are the essence of the poetic experience: internal observation, external observation, the universal connection between all human feelings and perception, and words. You will not need a special place to accomplish this.
You can work on this course in any quiet place or at any time. The only tools you will need will be a writing instrument and paper. I even prefer that you keep the dictionary at bay until the last lesson in this series.
I would also suggest that you take full advantage of the message and discussion options available to you here. In poetry classes we often find that we are each other’s best resource. Just as each poet is different, for each person taking this course the experience will be different.
You will be asked to stop thinking so you can feel, to stop feeling so you can think and to close your eyes so you can see. You will find silence and in that silence you will find your poet’s voice.
COURSE GOALS:
By the end of the four sessions you will be seeing hearing, tasting, smelling and writing more than you ever thought you would… and you will have taken the first steps toward becoming a poet or to refreshing your poetic spirit.This not an environment where I can take your work in my hand and use a pen to massage it into a poem before your eyes, so I suggest that you join the discussion on the bulletin board.
Even then, keep in mind that we are in the world of intangible things and so will be approaching the writing of poetry from a very intangible perspective. We will be working on the essentials of poetry, and will touch only lightly on form and style. In future courses we may take what you learn here and hone those skills to a fine perfection. REGISTER HERE
Georgia Jones
Georgia Jones has been an active journalist and was regularly published in local Washington DC publications, such as the DC Gazette, and in feminist publications such as oob- A Woman's News Journal between 1968 and 1980. The scope of this work included short stories, feature articles, science, self help, and articles and reviews of the arts.In addition to being founder/publisher of LadybugPress in 1996, Georgia Jones has led writing workshops in such diverse area and contexts as a peace conference in Israel and a retreat in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.
