Whitehead to Read at Poetry on the Loose, June 1, 3:30 p.m.
Poetry on the Loose presents Gary J. Whitehead reading his work at 3:30 p.m. on June 1 in the Seligmann Studio, 23 White Oak Drive, Sugar Loaf (across from the SLPAC). An open reading will follow Whiteheads presentation.
Whitehead is a poet, teacher, painter, and crossword constructor. His third collection of poems, A Glossary of Chickens, was chosen by Paul Muldoon for the Princeton University Press Contemporary Poets Series. His previous books include Measuring Cubits while the Thunder Claps and The Velocity of Dust. He has also authored three chapbooks of poetry, two of which were winners of national competitions. His writing awards include, among others, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, the Pearl Hogrefe Fellowship at Iowa StateUniversity, and the PEN Northwest Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency Award. His poems have appeared widely, most notably in The New Yorker. He lives in the Hudson Valley of New York and teaches English and creative writing at Tenafly High School in New Jersey.
More information is available on his website at www.garyjwhitehead.com.
Cheryl Rice to Lead Workshop , Sat. June 1, 1 - 3 p.m.
Cheryl Rice will offer a writing workshop titled Gods & Heroes: Poetry as Memoir on Saturday, from 1:00 until 3:00 pm on June 1 at the Seligmann Studio, 23 White Oak Drive (across from the SLPAC, formerly the Lycian), Sugar Loaf, New York. The program is free and open to all. No preregistration is required.
According to Rice memoir, whether in the form of prose or poetry, helps the writer to gain perspective and knowledge about her/his past while reviewing events, both painful and joyful, from a safe distance. She asks participants in the workshop to bring a personal object or photo appropriate to the theme Gods & Heroes which they would be willing to discuss with the group. After reviewing some poems as examples, each individual will free write for twenty or thirty minutes, striving for formless, stream of consciousness recordings of thoughts without editing or self-criticism. The aim is express a strong, creative response to life experiences which may or may not result in polished poems in the end.