Dive into Poetry: themed reading and writing workshops 22/10/23, Away with the Birds!
The most enjoyable way to share and learn poetry is in a regular small group. In the first hour of these workshops, we’ll discuss an inspiring batch of poems within a particular theme, sent to you a few days beforehand. They’ll be a mix of some more well known poems and some new to you. We’ll explore the poems and poetic techniques with expert guidance. These discussions in themselves are rich and life-enhancing.
Then, after a short break, we’ll write together inspired by the poems and share some of our writing.
Expect in-depth discussion and lots of creative ideas for your writing.
This workshop is for all levels, including those relatively new to reading and writing poetry.
If you’re a prose writer you could also use the prompts as inspiration.
Poetry enriches our lives. It helps us express our shared humanity. Conversations about poetry are some of the most rewarding and enjoyable I’ve ever had.
Sunday 22nd October
Theme: Away with the Birds
How does a bird’s eye view change the poet and reader? Birds are a vital connection with nature no matter where you live, even in city centres. Their flight and song has accompanied our lives and they’ve fascinated imaginations since the beginning of time. They come from an ancient lineage, evolving from dinosaurs.
Flight is the ultimate imaginative power. Superheroes can often fly and humans have invented an array of contraptions in order to fly.
Explore the abundance of birds and flight. In preparation (not essential), you may want to observe birds in your garden, local park or natural environment: river, seashore, wetlands, bushland, forest. Takes notes on their behaviour, sights, sounds and wherever your imagination takes you.
Poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers. Yevgeny Yevtushenko, poet
COST & TIMING
GBP £26
There’s a discount for those who have been to Dive sessions before and also if you are in my home state of Western Australia. Contact me.
For other currencies, including $AUD, a cost effective exchange rate is automatically calculated by STRIPE.
UK time 10.30am to 1pm
Start times in Australia: Perth 530pm // Brisbane 7.30pm // Adelaide 8pm //Darwin 7pm // Sydney 8.30pm (perhaps a little late, good for night owls!)
2.5 hours long
A useful link for checking other timezones: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
2.5hours for each session (with a short break in the middle)
maximum 12 people
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Australian Cath Drake’s collection ‘The Shaking City’ (Seren Books) was highly commended in the 2020 Forward Prizes, longlisted in the international Laurel Prize and described by TS Eliot winner Philip Gross as ‘a guide to staying clear-eyed, combative and caring in unsettling times.’. It follows ‘Sleeping with Rivers’ which won the Seren/Mslexia poetry pamphlet prize and was a Poetry Book Society choice. Cath’s prizes include a second in the 2017 Resurgence Poetry School eco-poetry prize (now called Ginkgo) and highly commended in 2019. She teaches writing in the UK, Australia and online. She’s an award-winning journalist and nonfiction writer and also a mindfulness teacher.
… a good poem creates an enchantment … a sudden surge of curiosity, interest, emotion, a momentary spell of heightened awareness, heightened emotional vulnerability, heightened imaginative sensitivity … I try to create a room in which something important is happening, will happen or has happened.
Poet, Dana Gioia
