Poets Writing After Other Poets

Poets often write a poetic response in conversation with poets they have read and admired. We may place an epigraph just below the title, we may try a form such as the Golden Shovel, or an acrostic using a line or title from a favorite poem. We will generate new poetry from poetry we admire by analyzing some favorites to see what poetic techniques are used there. Whether it is a longtime favorite or a poem new to you that you want to explore, we’ll study it in this workshop. What is it about those poems that “stick with us”? Gather a few favorites but don't worry if you don’t already have some. The workshop is for both beginners and those who have written poetry before. We’ll start with Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. (What is it about that particular poem?) It will be “. . . like using one candle to light another, like reading a poem to write one”. (From my poem “Where I Have Placed Daylilies”)

Ellie O’Leary, Poet Laureate of Amesbury, Massachusetts, has published Breathe Here (poetry, 2020) and Up Home Again (memoir, 2023), both with North County Press. She has an MFA in poetry from the Stonecoast Program.