Poetry Writing Workshop

Saturday, 3:00pm | Workshop

Shelley described poets as “the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” In this session, we will think about how imagination and art influence the world around us. We will read some examples of protest poetry and write some protest poetry of our own, including looking at The Golden Shovel poems, a new poetic form devised by poet Terrance Hayes and featured in the February issue of Poetry. The Golden Shovel poems, inspired by the work of Gwendolyn Brooks, include a line of her poetry as the last line of the poem. We will read, write our own, and share.

Emily Francis

Emily M. Francis is a writer and urban educator with a MAE in English and Education. After teaching high school English for 15 years in Toledo Public Schools in Toledo, OH, she currently teaches first-year writing for the Writing and Rhetoric Department at Oakland University. She lives in Rochester Hills, MI with her husband Tuf Francis and their two children. She also teaches Jazzercise and spends most days writing, dancing and shuttling people about in her minivan. She has a passion for creativity and for helping others live creative lives. A few years ago, while doing laundry, she remembered she was a poet. Emily recently attended University of Michigan’s Bear River Writers’ Conference as a poetry scholarship recipient and is currently working on her first collection of poems.

Session ID [180]