Writing Poems Using Non-Literary Forms, with Steve Bellin-Oka
September 13, 2020 at 2:00 PM CST via Zoom
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Does the form of a poem have to adhere only to forms we've inherited from the past, like traditional free verse and formal poems like sonnets? Or can we invent new forms that better express the complexity of living in the world in 2020? In this generative workshop, participants will experiment with applying elements of non-literary texts--recipes, questionnaires, advertisements, tables of contents, police interrogations, and resumes, for example--to their own poetic practice. We'll read and discuss some contemporary poems by writers who do this, and then draft a new poem that blurs the line between the literary and the non-literary.
The workshop will take place virtually via Zoom and will be captioned with Rev Live Captions. To register for the workshop, please do so by clicking on the following Zoom link and entering your name and email address: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcld-yvrD8sHNJywOS8Z2Eyor5XKzRDmRgm
Registration is free; suggested donation of $5. Every donation to Open Mouth Reading Series supports our programming and feature poets. Donate at paypal.me/openmouthreadings
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ARTIST BIO
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Steve Bellin-Oka is the author of three poetry pamphlets and chapbooks, most recently Out of the Frame (Walls Divide Press, 2019). His first full-length book, Instructions for Seeing a Ghost, won the 2019 Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry from the University of North Texas Press. He earned his M.F.A. from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers. A 2019-2020 Tulsa Artist Fellow in Poetry, Steve has also been awarded fellowships from Yaddo, the National Parks Arts Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Crosstown Arts Center. He has taught poetry and film studies at the University of Mississippi, St. Norbert College, and Eastern New Mexico University. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Steve lived abroad in Canada from 2007 to 2015. He currently resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Read more about Steve at www.steve-bellin-oka.com/
Image description: photo of poet Steve Bellin-Oka standing in front of a painted brick wall