Barbara J. Hamby

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An Intensive Poetry Day

On the first 80 plus degree-day in this area, I spent the day at a writers’ studio in North Portland, near the St. Johns Bridge, at a poetry workshop. My poetry writing has been in a slump while I’m working on memoirs, so today’s exercises were a good jumpstart for my muse. About 30 local poets gathered at 8:30 a.m. for two facilitated writing sessions, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. We met in two separate groups with one leader in the morning and the other in the afternoon. In between, a panel of publishers spoke to all the poets at lunch, bringing us up to date on the state of publishing in the Pacific Northwest.

There were only two people there I’d ever met before. One was a presenter and the other a publisher. However, there was an extraordinary rapport among those who attended and the work we wrote and shared was entertaining and very moving. We were occasionally prompted to laugh; more often to want to weep.

We made tentative plans to publish, either online or on paper, our favorites among the poems created during the two day event. I will not go back tomorrow for the second day, but some of the poets will be there. I was so exhausted I napped for two hours after a late supper.

It’s still quite warm here tonight, but the weather broadcaster predicts 60-degree weather for tomorrow. Such a wide swing isn’t unusual here. I hope it will be dry long enough to get a little work done outside.