The Spark—poem generation workshop
Painting People: Poems as Portraits
Thursday, April 17, 2025, 1-3 pm US ET (6-8 pm UK)
Do you think fiction is the only writing that shows people? Think again!
Poetry is also excellent for capturing the essence of a person, taking readers deep into their thoughts, their feelings, and their world. Whether it’s someone close to you, a stranger, or even an invented person, poetry has the tools you need to create a depiction that’s both intimate and wide-ranging. Moreover, there are so many things you can do with portrait poems, from honoring a loved one, to getting a better understanding of someone who intrigues you, to attacking someone who appalls you! You can even use them to write about an issue you care about, using the portrait poem to show how the issue acutely impacts a single life.
So in this month’s Spark, we’re going to look at different ways to create poems about people, whether alive or dead, personally known to you or not, real or imagined. We’ll look at how you can include different kinds of information, and use techniques like imagery and points of view, to make portraits that combine comprehensiveness with depth, without taking pages and pages to do it!
So I hope you’ll join us, to use art as a launchpad for making original and exhilarating poems!
Included are:
Discussion of various approaches to writing portrait poems
3 example poems to learn from
3 specific writing prompts—2 to write in the workshop, and 1 for afterward
Writing time
Brief feedback.
Places are limited to 10 people.
Painting People: Poems as Portraits
Thursday, April 17, 2025, 1-3 pm US ET (6-8 pm UK)
Do you think fiction is the only writing that shows people? Think again!
Poetry is also excellent for capturing the essence of a person, taking readers deep into their thoughts, their feelings, and their world. Whether it’s someone close to you, a stranger, or even an invented person, poetry has the tools you need to create a depiction that’s both intimate and wide-ranging. Moreover, there are so many things you can do with portrait poems, from honoring a loved one, to getting a better understanding of someone who intrigues you, to attacking someone who appalls you! You can even use them to write about an issue you care about, using the portrait poem to show how the issue acutely impacts a single life.
So in this month’s Spark, we’re going to look at different ways to create poems about people, whether alive or dead, personally known to you or not, real or imagined. We’ll look at how you can include different kinds of information, and use techniques like imagery and points of view, to make portraits that combine comprehensiveness with depth, without taking pages and pages to do it!
So I hope you’ll join us, to use art as a launchpad for making original and exhilarating poems!
Included are:
Discussion of various approaches to writing portrait poems
3 example poems to learn from
3 specific writing prompts—2 to write in the workshop, and 1 for afterward
Writing time
Brief feedback.
Places are limited to 10 people.
Painting People: Poems as Portraits
Thursday, April 17, 2025, 1-3 pm US ET (6-8 pm UK)
Do you think fiction is the only writing that shows people? Think again!
Poetry is also excellent for capturing the essence of a person, taking readers deep into their thoughts, their feelings, and their world. Whether it’s someone close to you, a stranger, or even an invented person, poetry has the tools you need to create a depiction that’s both intimate and wide-ranging. Moreover, there are so many things you can do with portrait poems, from honoring a loved one, to getting a better understanding of someone who intrigues you, to attacking someone who appalls you! You can even use them to write about an issue you care about, using the portrait poem to show how the issue acutely impacts a single life.
So in this month’s Spark, we’re going to look at different ways to create poems about people, whether alive or dead, personally known to you or not, real or imagined. We’ll look at how you can include different kinds of information, and use techniques like imagery and points of view, to make portraits that combine comprehensiveness with depth, without taking pages and pages to do it!
So I hope you’ll join us, to use art as a launchpad for making original and exhilarating poems!
Included are:
Discussion of various approaches to writing portrait poems
3 example poems to learn from
3 specific writing prompts—2 to write in the workshop, and 1 for afterward
Writing time
Brief feedback.
Places are limited to 10 people.
