POETRY EVENT FOR CHICAGO RESIDENTS

PERFORMANCE

Tuesday, January 13, 7:00PM

Drinking Gourd: An Evening of Poetry and Music

Celebrate Willie Lin, the winner of this year’s Drinking Gourd Poetry Prize, a first-book award for poets of color with Drinking Gourd Judge Chris Abani and bassist Tatsu Aoki.

Wednesday, January 14, 10:00AM

Wednesday Poemtime

The Poetry Foundation Library welcomes children ages two to five to a storytime event that introduces poetry through fun, interactive readings and crafts.

FOR DETAILS CLICK ON poetryfoundation.org 

POETRY CHALLENGE FOUR

WRITE A THREE-FOLD POEM:

Fold One: Describe/discuss your favorite poet, and why they are?

Fold Two: Describe/discuss your favorite poem and why it is?

Fold Three: Write a response to your favorite poem!

Now keep WRITING until you have all the folds merging into ONE

POETRY CHALLENGE THREE

You're stranded on a desert island with (3) items: A COCONUT, A MASK, and a DICTIONARY.

Write a poem explaining how you used those items to help you get off the island!!!

POETRY CHALLENGE TWO

Write a "LOVE" poem.  It should be a poem expressing, or re-creating {IF YOU DARE}, the ECSTASY, the JOY, the RAPTURE, the GOOD, the BAD, the UGLY, the AGITATION, the ANGER, or the INDIFFERENCE you felt when you first "FELL IN LOVE." or better, when you first "FELL OUT OF LOVE!"

POETIC BIRTHDAY

***A REMEMBRANCE CELEBRATION FROM NOVEMBER 13TH

Wanda Coleman was born on this day in 1946, in Los Angeles, California (Watts). She was a poet, writer, journalist, and spoken-word performer.

As a child she was encouraged to read by her parents and as a consequence, she developed a passion for books. She began writing and publishing poetry at a very early age.

She also had a love for the visual arts, theater, and public speaking.

Anger, unhappiness, hate and violence was a vital part of her writing and poetry readings. She was known as a dramatic public performer, with a "take no prisoners" attitude, and  was unapologetic about the stance she took.

Wanda Coleman was dubbed, "The LA Blueswoman," and as a result of being a compelling force on the L.A. poetry scene, she became known as the "unofficial" Poet Laureate of Los Angeles.

Over the years she won numerous awards and fellowships. Her book of poetry, "Mercurochrome," was nominated for the 2001 National Book Award, and was one of the finalists, winning a bronze medal.

Her poetry and writing was devoted to the themes of racism, the female experience and growing up in the city she loved, L.A. (Watts), California.

Wanda Coleman passed on to the realm of the ancestors on November 22, 2013.

TO READ A COMPREHENSIVE BIO, AND SAMPLE HER POETRY, CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

poetryfoundation.org, poets.org,  afropoets.net, AND poemhunters.com   

POETRY CHALLENGE ONE

Write a "place" poem. Make it a place you have never been before. Use the place as a setting in  your poem, and make that place come alive.

Or, to make it a little less challenging, use a place very familiar to you!

POETRY EVENT FOR CHICAGO RESIDENTS

Library Book Club

Friday, Dec 12, 12:30PM–1:30PM
Poetry Foundation
61 West Superior Street
Free Admission
Please register in advance by emailing library@poetryfoundation.org

All experience levels are welcome to a monthly book group moderated by library staff. In December, the book club discusses Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. Space is limited to 15 participants.

4.53 of 5 stars

A provocative meditation on race, Claudia Rankine’s long-awaited follow up to her groundbreaking book Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric 
Claudia Rankine’s bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intent ...more

Paperback, 160 pages

Published October 7th 2014 by Graywolf Press

poetryfoundation.org