With many thanks to Will Smith, whose idea it was in the first place, and to Dr. Philip Davies, who graciously arranged everything, the Nottingham Poetry Series is thrilled to announce that five American poets will read at the Eccles Centre at the British Library on Tuesday, July 20, at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available via the British Library ticket office beginning about one month before the reading (£4/£3 concessions).

You can now download a pdf of our press release, should you so desire. Feel free to send it around! We’re now just two weeks out from May 1, when tickets will be available beginning at noon BST. The press release is here.

You can now download a pdf of the schedule for the four days. (Click here.) Please note that locations will be sent with registration confirmation.

Purchasers of all-inclusive tickets (four-day passes) will have the opportunity to designate ten workshops they are interested in; NPS staff will select seven of these according to scheduling and popularity. We will do our very best to be sure that your interests are met! Please do indicate on your order form if you have particular scheduling needs/hopes.

Tickets will go on sale May 1 at noon BST.

Ticket information is now available; click the tab marked ‘tickets!’ on the top left side of the page.

Tickets go on sale May 1 at noon BST.

No Bamboozling: Prose Poems for Pleasure: The poet William Stafford quipped in regard to prose poems, “You gain something in that the reader will feel you are not trying to bamboozle him with white space . . . prose poems don’t worry me.” Peter Johnson remarked that “the prose poem plants one foot in prose, the other in poetry, both heels resting precariously on banana peels.” In this workshop, we’ll read and discuss a variety of practitioners of this form, from early proponents like Rimbaud and Baudelaire to the likes of Lyn Hejinian, Joseph Stroud, Laynie Brown, Gary Young, and Ilhan Berk to discover ways in which this slippery form works. We’ll use writing exercises to get us thinking in new ways about our syntax and rhythm, and we’ll grapple with ideas and perceptions about content.

Articulating the Body: In this workshop, we’ll use movement and visualization exercises to more deeply inhabit the spaces where we live—our bodies—and then use these experiences to generate new writing. We’ll read examples of poetry about and of the body and create our own, with time for sharing, feedback and discussion. The movement exercises will loosen up our imaginations and connect us with our whole selves. Our focus will be on deep attention to the moving body as a means of accessing new creativity with which to make poems. No previous movement experience or poetry experience required.

The Short Series (two-day session): How does a poet treat a subject over a period of time, that is, in a series of poems? We can learn from a poet’s unique loves, their eye—the reverence for people, things, and places. According to William Stafford, “we can help each other find, in each of our lives, what is obscure but ready to be significant.” What are our poems capable of? How do they move, function?  We’ll give time to these questions and to a close reading and absorption of the work of poets who explore this form. In our reading and discussion, we’ll give attention to what is happening within the poem, working together to notice details and craft. What do you remember about the world? How do you see it? What would it mean to re-see (to re-vise, through re-vision), again and again?

Tutor: Laressa Dickey.

The List Poem: We will be taking a look at how lists function and dysfunction in American poetry–including inquiry into what elements define a list in poetry (are they different from what defines a list outside of poetry?  Can a series/sequence of poems be viewed as an annotated list? Is there a difference between listing and cataloging?), as well as questioning the list as an example of a contemporary form.  Readings will include: Larry Levis’ “Elegy with a Thimble Full of Water in the Cage”, selections from Michael Palmer’s “Codes Appearing”, Kate Greenstreet’s “56 Days” series, and, of course, Walt Whitman.

The ‘After’ Poem: Through close and comparative readings, we will discuss the following questions: What does it mean to write a poem “After” someone?  How does influence reveal itself in new ways when the reader is signaled to its presence?  How does an “after poem” differ from a poem “to” or “for” someone, or something?  Readings will include poems by James Wright, Wallace Stevens, Peter Gizzi, John Ashberry, James Schyler, and Jennifer Moxley.

Visionary Poetics: This workshop will focus on poems written in the 21st century which engage in a philosophical poetic, grounded in lived experiences and characterized by an imaginative intensity and a vast verbal range.  We will explore a poetry that evokes, creates, or redefines the standard version of human perception and vision, exploring the subjectivity of each person’s relationship with language and experience, while avoiding the impulse to be surreal, didactic, or fantastical.  Poets discussed include: Peter Richards, John Ashberry, G.C. Waldrep, Zachary Schomburg, Aase Berg, Charles Wright, and Katie Ford.

Unsweetened: The Short Poem: In this workshop we will focus on poems of no more than 12 lines written by 20th and 21st century poets.  We will explore the formal and linguistic qualities of short verse; the idea of telescopes and microscopes will structure the discussion and serve as a metaphor for the activity, energy, and organization of the poetry.  Poets discussed include: Ezra Pound, Blaise Cendrars, H.D., Donald Hall, Nick Flynn, Michael Palmer, Jack Gilbert, and Forrest Gander.

Tutor: Zachary Carlsen.

Persona in Contemporary Poetry: Using examples from contemporary poetry, this workshop will explore the ways poets create or take on a character, examining how a persona can allow or hinder different methods of discourse.  We will look closely at the motivations a poet has when using a persona and closely investigate the strategies involved when employing this device.  Drawing upon books, music, art, and film for inspiration, we will then discuss and practice ways of using personae within our own writing.

Ekphrastic Poetry: Ekphrasis is the technique through which one artist responds to another.  In this workshop, we will aim to examine the ways that poets have traditionally written poetry in response to paintings, as well as discuss ways to push the boundaries of ekphrasis by using poetry to interpret and respond to music, art, and film.  Together, we will discuss examples of ekphrastic poems as well as complete in-class writing exercises to share with the group.

Writing On Location: A poem’s setting often offers insight into a speaker’s intentions and emotions in ways that many readers and writers fail to acknowledge.  This workshop will explore the use of location in poetry to go beyond description, focusing on the emotional resonance that a setting can retain. Discussing examples of poems set in both city and countryside, with glimpses of urban sidewalks and rural hills, we will examine ways that poets rely on location to further their narratives. The workshop will conclude with an in-class writing activity to get participants started on writing their own poems focused on location.

Tutor: Kerri French.