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NEW IDEA: A BASIC POETICS STUDY GROUP

9/22/2016

I'm fishing for potential here. Please tell me what you think.

1. This group would be mainly for poets (and poetry lovers) with little formal education in poetry. As for example, yours truly.

2. Because poetry is like chess in that a person can become endlessly more proficient at it (because of its ancient lineage and because bright people have been studying it and writing and teaching about it for nearly that whole time), there is a God-awful lot to learn. Thus the world of poets can be divided into two groups: those with a formal university education specializing to some degree in poetry, and those without one.

3. The group's professors would be the group members themselves. Each would pick a topic from the world of poetics, research it, and present it, discuss it, show examples of it in poems, and generally get the group thinking about how, why, and when to apply it, and what happens if it's not applied, and so on. In other words, by the end of each session, everyone should have a new tool at their disposal to help them enrich their poetry. (And to help them read others' poetry.)

4. Topics would include especially the aspects of poetics most commonly employed in contemporary poetry, but not limited to them. Some examples: the major aspects of poetry, including lines, syntax, diction, trope, rhetoric, rhythm, meter, stanza and then some of the zillion sub-categories like enjambment, stress, scansion, allusion, imagism, metaphor, free verse, feeling, metonymy, allusion, abstraction, how to read a poem, etc etc.

If there's enough interest, we'll definitely start this thing.

Express yourself here, but especially send me an email so I can put you on the invite list: burfield@live.com

Thanks, Stan Burfield

From Facebook: Likes....8...Lynn Tait, Peggy Roffey and 6 others

Comments

Cambridge N Calvin Keenan You are a brilliant man Stan 💚 I like this idea
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 20 September at 14:38

Christina Wagner i am interested!
Like · Reply · 20 September at 14:39

Stan Burfield YEAH! We've already got a group, then!
Like · Reply · 1 · 20 September at 14:40 · Edited

Stan Burfield Just send me an email Christina, and I'll collect all the names so I can notify everyone.
Like · Reply · 2 · 20 September at 14:41

Donna Allard to structured for me lol
Like · Reply · 20 September at 14:53

Donald Brackett Go for it Stan. As long as it includes Salvatore Quasimodo, I'm in.
Like · Reply · 20 September at 14:58

Stan Burfield I wish. In both cases.
Like · Reply · 20 September at 15:04

Tina Pickard Stan, I think this is a good idea. I would be interested.
Like · Reply · 20 September at 15:51

Stan Burfield Great. You're on the list then.
Like · Reply · 1 · 20 September at 17:48

Write a reply...

Sheila Deane Okay I sort of like this idea. Could I join?
Like · Reply · 20 September at 21:34

Stan Burfield Of course. Just send me your email address so I can put you on the invitation list.Cambridge N Calvin Keenan You are a brilliant man Stan 💚 I like this idea
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 20 September at 14:38

Christina Wagner i am interested!
Like · Reply · 20 September at 14:39

Stan Burfield YEAH! We've already got a group, then!
Like · Reply · 1 · 20 September at 14:40 · Edited

Stan Burfield Just send me an email Christina, and I'll collect all the names so I can notify everyone.
Like · Reply · 2 · 20 September at 14:41

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THIS WILL BE THE SEASON OF SIDEWALK POETRY

9/22/2016

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Those of you who have watched the stop-and-start progression of the idea of sidewalk poetry for the last couple years may be relieved to know that during this 5th season of London Open Mic Poetry there will be four people working on it, so that now I can guarantee that the idea is definitely going to be refined, thoroughly researched, a proper proposal written and then, finally, the submission made to the London Arts Council (LAC).

Three energetic young students of Manina Jones' third-year class at Western, "Canadian Literature, Creativity and the Local", have volunteered to pour themselves into the project as part of their class work, and because they are very enthusiastic about the idea.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, the idea is to get the city to stamp poems into the city's sidewalks as they are being repaired with new cement. An annual city-wide contest would decide on a few poems to be made into stamps each year for all that year's repairs. The poems would then be pinpointed on a map on the city's website. Citizens could use it to chart a route between poems, for a foot, bicycle or car adventure. My own motivating fantasy is that a child on the way to the bus or school would step over and look at a poem every day, and, as the years passed and as the child's mind developed, it would gain new insights into the deeper meanings in the poem, which would then become a part of the person's entire life, and poetry would become one of the pleasures of the grown adult.

The three students working on the project are (in alph. order) Jennifer Ball, Leizel Rafanan, and Noelle Schmidt.

We will keep you informed of progress, and hopefully keep you excited about the project. Let's face it; the more support we have, the more likely it will be that the city goes for it too.

Photo: This is one of over 700 impressions of nearly 50 poems in the sidewalks of St. Paul, Minnesota, the first city to institute this idea, and, as far as we know, the only one. During their first year, 2008, over 2,000 submissions were made!

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Poet Laureate Presents!

9/21/2016

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Join us for an evening of poetry, music, and art ...

Doors open at 6pm. This is a free and accessible event.
Hosted by the London Arts Council and London Public Library.

Program
Featured artwork by Nic DeGroot, London Arts Live painter
http://www.londonculture.ca/nic-degroot

Music throughout the evening by Between the Keys, a London Arts Live trio jazz band
http://www.londonculture.ca/between-keys

7:00 - 8:30pm
Introduction from Tom Cull, London’s 2016 Poet Laureate
http://www.londonculture.ca/poet-laureate

Readings by...

David Plain, representative from London Open Mic Poetry

David Huebert, representative from Poetry London

Levi Hord, representative from Poetry Slam

Tom Cull, London's 2016 Poet Laureate

Margaret Christakos, London’s 2016 Writer-in-Residence

The London Arts Council and the London Public Library would like to thank the City of London for their funding of the Poet Laureate and London Arts Live programs as well as the Canada Council for the Arts and Western University for their continued support of the Writer-in-Residence program.

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Help Wanted: facilitators for our children’s poetry workshop

9/17/2016

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London Open Mic Poetry will be holding a poetry workshop for children at the Children’s Museum on October 15th. We need people to help facilitate the event.

The Children’s Museum is a very rich, exciting setting for children, and thus a great place to spark creativity. We are planning to use museum displays as prompts to help the children begin writing poetry.

Most people are introduced to poetry much later in life, and often as part of a compulsory course. Our idea is to expose them to it when they are very young, in their formative years, and in a setting that will give them a positive feeling for poetry and for writing it.

Please know that the Children's Museum requires volunteers to have a criminal reference check

If you are interested, you can contact our organizer of the event, Brittany Renaud, at renaudbrittany4@gmail.com for more information.

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NEW IDEA: A BASIC POETICS STUDY GROUP

THIS WILL BE THE SEASON OF SIDEWALK POETRY

Poet Laureate Presents!

​Help Wanted: facilitators for our children’s poetry workshop

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Help Wanted: facilitators for our children’s poetry workshop