SPECIAL CLASSES AND EVENTS

BLACKSMITH HOUSE POETRY SERIES:

SPRING 2021

Readings currently take place virtually on Zoom on Mondays at 7:15pm . Admission is $3 . Register at ccae .org/blacksmithpoetry .

FEBRUARY 22

Denise Bergman reads from her new collection, The Shape of the Keyhole, with Katherine Hollander, whose debut poetry collection is My German Dictionary .

MARCH 1

Natalie Shapero, whose latest collection is Popular Longing, reads with Rebecca Morgan Frank, author of Oh You Robot Saints!

MARCH 8

Christian Wiman reads from Survival is a Style, with Andrea Cohen, whose new poetry collection is Everything .

MARCH 22

New Voices: Emerging Writers

An evening of poetry with Selma Asotic, Sarah Audsley, Chibuihe Obi, and Heather Treseler.

MARCH 29

Zachary Schomburg reads from his new poetry collection, Fjords v2, with Yonah Harvey, author of You Don't Have To Go To Mars for Love .

APRIL 5

Khaled Mattawa reads from his latest poetry collection, Fugitive Atlas, with Randall Mann, whose latest book is A Better Life .

APRIL 12

Yusef Komunyakaa reads from his new collection, Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth: New and Selected Poems .

MAY 3

Jennifer Militello reads from her new poetry collection, The Pact, with Tim Liardet, whose most recent collection is Arcimboldo’s Bulldog: New and Selected Poems .

Founded in 1973, the awardwinning Blacksmith House Poetry Series features established and emerging writers of poetry and fiction. The series is named after the Blacksmith House at 56 Brattle Street, site of the village smithy and spreading chestnut tree of Longfellow’s 1839 poem “The Village Blacksmith.”

Andrea Cohen

Director

Ron Spaletta & Daniel Grover

Assistants to the Director

Gail Mazur

Founding Director

The Blacksmith House Poetry Series is funded in part by Cambridge Arts Council . We appreciate our donors’ support of Cambridge Center for Adult Education and local cultural programming .

POETRY

WRITING THE UNSPEAKABLE: A POETRY WORKSHOP ON GRIEF AND TRAUMA

Frannie Lindsay | Author, of The Snow’s Wife Writing an honest poem about grief is a little like performing surgery . You can’t be squeamish . You have to roll up your sleeves, scrub in . Your emotions must stay out of the OR . In this workshop, we will examine things and then name them . We will investigate the musculature of difficult poems that stay with us. Participants will come to recognize the innate strengths of their own and others’ individual voices . We will become familiar with the instruments—aesthetic and instinctual— needed to write plain-spoken, accessible poems about our toughest subjects .

COURSE CODE: RAIN Sec. 01: 8 Fridays, 6-9pm. Begins Apr. 9 | $270

THE WORLD IN A MOMENT: AN INTRODUCTION TO THREE JAPANESE HAIKU MASTERS

Jeanne Martin | Ed. D., Teacher Poet and Retreat Leader This course will introduce you to the three Japanese Haiku Masters credited with developing the strong yet delicate poetry form of haiku . Basho, the Zen Buddhist; Buson, the sensitive painter of daily life, and Issa, the master of the overlooked detail and small creatures . We will learn about each poet, their life and times, read many of their haiku poems, and try our hands at writing using their teaching advice made into easy prompts . Everyone is invited to this fun and supportive course .

COURSE CODE: BASO Sec. 01: 3 Wednesdays, 3-5pm. Begins May 5 | $120

POETRY CHAPBOOK WORKSHOP

Amanda Rouillard | Creative Writer Instructor Have you ever had a dream of creating your own poetry chapbook? This workshop will help you to write, edit and produce one over the course of 8 weeks . With a push in the right direction, you’ll be on the road to creating something that truly expresses who you are .

COURSE CODE: CHAP Sec. 01: 8 Mondays, 7-8pm. Begins Apr. 5 | $140 No Class Apr. 19 & May 31

DEVELOPMENT & DISCOVERY:

A POETRY CLASS

D. Parkison | Poet Development and Discovery is a course designed to introduce students to formal innovations and unique approaches to the writing of poetry . We will not decide between experimental and formal verse . Instead, we will consider both traditions to best express the ideas and feelings of motivating our work . Readings from contemporary luminaries like Jericho Brown, Danez Smith, Linda Gregerson, and Robert Hass will be considered alongside Whitman, Dickinson, Blake, Wordsworth, and others . What animates poetry? How do we animate our own? This will be our task .

COURSE CODE: DDDD Sec. 01: 8 Fridays, 7-8:30pm. Begins Apr. 9 | $225

LEARNING FROM CORNELIUS EADY:

A POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP

Tom Daley | Educator Whether musing over Miles Davis or Billie Holiday, or staking a poetic position against racist bigotry, Cornelius Eady makes his mark with a vigorous imagination and a gift for searing verses . Participants in the workshop can bring poems on any subject . The optional exercises, based on Eady’s poetry, include writing about confronting prejudice; writing an elegiac poem inspired by a photograph; writing imaginatively about dance; writing about a troubled and beloved performer; writing a poem in the voice of someone invented to call attention away from the real perpetrator of a crime; and writing about the radio .

COURSE CODE: EADY Sec. 01: 8 Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30pm. Begins Apr. 6 | $240

FICTION

FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP

Thomas Meek | Writer For the student actively writing, this workshop format is designed to provide a supportive environment and critical feedback to help deepen and develop one’s work . Each student will conclude the class with at least one finished piece of short fiction (or chapter). We’ll examine character, plot, structure, language and more while learning to incorporate constructive criticism from peers . Please note: Students should have a project in progress in order to take this class .

COURSE CODE: CFIC Sec. 01: 8 Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30pm. Begins Apr. 7 | $240

WRITING THE STRANGE

Valerie Lute | Writer Take a break from reality . In this class, we will explore strange, bizarre, and outlandish fiction, looking at everything from the classics of Poe and Kafka to the contemporary magical realists like Haruki Murakami . Each week we’ll share our writing out loud, receive feedback from the class, and complete writing exercises to unleash the nightmares of our unconscious mind .

COURSE CODE: OFFB Sec. 01: 8 Wednesdays, 7:45-9:45pm. Begins Apr. 7 | $240

DEVELOPING AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS

Jane Katims | M.Ed., Author, Dancing on a Slippery Floor The writing of a story, novel, or memoir often begins with the creation of authentic characters — ones who are believable and compelling . How do these characters move? How do they speak? Are they shown alone? If not, how do they operate in relation to other characters? Exercises and discussions will propel us into our writing . We’ll explore aspects of craft (i .e . point-of-view, narrative structure, and vivid detail) which contribute to effective story writing. Please buy or locate the following books: The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff; To Be a Man by Nicole Krauss; and Fabrications: New and Selected Stories by Pamela Painter. Before the first class, please read for our discussion, the following stories in the collection The Night in Question: “Powder,” “The Life of the Body,” and “Flyboys.”

COURSE CODE: CRCH Sec. 01: 8 Tuesdays, 11:30am-1:30pm. Begins Apr. 6 | $240