Marvin to host poetry writing workshop April 26

WATERVILLE — A poetry writing workshop will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 26 at the Waterville Public Library, led by poet Cate Marvin.
Those who want to take the workshop must register beforehand.

“It’s my opinion that the image is the primary building block for any good poem,” Marvin said. “This is because we all see things differently, and as such, we all notice different aspects of our environment.”
Those taking the workshop are asked to bring a poem in which they describe a significant venue in their lives where a dramatic change occurred (whether an argument took pace there, or it was the very last place they saw a particular person, etc.). The poem should be written before the workshop, and they should bring copies to share with the class. This workshop will address the strengths and successes of poems written in response to the prompt, with an emphasis on how one creatures siignature details.
The poem must:
1. Have a title with the exact location. It should be a “real” name. “Take advantage of the fact that real life is pretty poetic when you come right down to it,” Marvin said.
2. Have at least three identifying objects from the setting that reveal color, light, and/or smell. The objects could be anything from bar stools, to a particular species of plant, to a make of car.
3. Close with a statement that is either: 1.) an advertising jingle from a radio or television advertisement from the poet’s childhood; or, 2.) a scrap of song lyric from the time during which the situation/setting the poem is built around. While the language should be lifted (and not “yours”), it should operate as closure for the poem, and therefore be a statement that provokes.
4. The poem must be at least 20 lines.
To register, sign up on EventBrite at poetry-workshop-with-cate-marvin.eventbrite.com, call 207-872-543 or email librarian@watervillelibrary.org.