"Message in a Bottle" Poetry Workshop

Many people avoid poetry because there is a popular idea that true poetry is dull, vague in its meaning and intended for an elite audience. LTC tutor Anita Dugat-Greene's recent workshop titled "Message in a Bottle: How to Read, Enjoy and Write about Poetry" sought to rid students of these assumptions.

The session began with an imagined burning of the participants' apprehensions about poetry. Once the path had been cleared, each attendee was encouraged to recall poems that delighted them during childhood-- whether it was Dr. Seus, Shel Silverstein, Arnold Adoff, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Nikki Grimes or classic nursery rhymes. Anita also used selections from Edward Hirsch's How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love With Poetry as a framework for this well-received workshop.

Some of the poetry explored included the work of celebrated artists like Jill Scott and Robert Hayden as well selections from the facilitator's own verse. Anita’s poem “Paradise,” incidentally, was published in the Fall/Winter 2008 Atlanta Review. More recently she won the International Merit Award in the Atlanta Review’s 2010 poetry competition.

Top image taken from Persian Arts Festival website.

Additional note: In many parts of the ancient world, poetry and music were closely related. The oud/lute that the woman in red is wearing was one of the instruments that was synonymous with poetry. Persia was one of the places where poetry was most highly-prized and respected. These poets frequently wrote about spiritual as well as romantic love.