Hello dear poetry friends and PSOV members-
I, his reflection in the mirror,
squawking back louder and louder.
I begin to question my own feathers.
—Buffy Aakaash
the organ-grinder racing to recover his lost monkey,
life’s events gone wild from a no-sleep night.
–Libby VanBuskirk
After the bear and the birds
a tiny chipmunk
hugs the wildness
at the edge of stone
–Janet St. Onge
I am filled with gratitude for all who participated in our lively August 18th PSOV Animal Eyes online workshop! After a quick overview lecture with some food for thought about how to foreground animal perspectives in poetry, we read animal poems from D.H.Lawrence (Whales Weep Not!), Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Dog), Margaret Atwood (Pig Song), Elizabeth Bishop (The Fish) and more, and engaged in deep discussion about the ethics of writing in another voice and how to effectively and respectfully “speak for the animals” through our poetic choices in style, vocabulary and syntax. We workshopped participants’ magnificent poems through the lens of narrative point-of-view, talking about how we can show animals as individuals with agency and unique traits. What an inspirational step on the adventurous journey of rewilding our writing!
Don’t miss our next online workshop option, Building with Words: Poets as Language Architects, led by Buffy Aakaash, Sunday September 27th, 4:00-6:30. Through reading aloud, workshopping participants’ poems and a generative exercise, this workshop will be a foundational opportunity to develop and hone your poetry-crafting skills from word choice to syntax. Lift your lines from ground floor to the rafters as you build with words – free to PSOV members of course (though if you find these online workshops valuable, donations to PSOV to ensure we can keep this great programming going is always deeply appreciated!).
All the best to you as we roll through a joyous summer of poetry,
Cindy Ellen Hill, PSOV President
