traveling poetry classes in march 2018 at mario's pizza & dunkin' donuts in limerick: focusing on amiri baraka poems & poetry-collaging.

one of march's traveling poetry classes is to make up for a snowday in february. the first will involve amiri baraka's poems. the second will be a chance to do collaging with poetry; feel free to bring magazines and other printed visuals which might be useful to cut up as well as scissors and tape or glue. i'll bring some as well, but more is merrier sometimes to make sure there's enough to go around.

any topics of creative writing are welcome for sharing and workshopping during class by those who attend, but we have inspirational topics as prompt ideas, too. please bring a few copies to share with other students, if you can, for anything you write and want to practice reading as well as discussing. but just having your original copy to read from is okay, if that's easier for the writer. we may be a little more creating-oriented during the collaging class, though, of course.

next classes–

when: sunday, march 11 @ 1 p.m. & sunday, march 18 at @ 1 p.m.

where: for march 11, mario's pizza at 159 south reading avenue, boyertown, pa 19512; for march 18, dunkin' donuts in limerick @ 6 kugler road, limerick, pa 19468

 
optional themes of focus:

    sunday, march 11–amiri baraka poems
    sunday, march 18–poetry-collaging

cost: $20 per student, per class (we usually meet for 2 hours or more)

if we ever have oddly inconvenient weather around the time of classes, i will update those who RSVPed to classes in advance to let them know if we are canceling, rescheduling, or relocating.

if you have any questions, feel free to reach out via poetrywithjenniferhetrick at yahoo dot com.

and if you know anyone who may be interested in our class, feel free to share this blog content onward.

also, if there is anyone who may want to join our class but lives in another area across berks, chester, and montgomery counties, we sometimes travel to a good variety of different places, so let us know, and we can see about planning classes closer to you.

james weldon johnson's words recited by john foster to celebrate black history month.

this morning, local orator john foster recited several poems from the 1927 book god's trombones by james weldon johnson at washington presbyterian church in the city of reading as a way to celebrate black history month. the poems are weldon johnson's own reworkings of bible verses. 

the author's creative approach with the lines has some rich, very relatable and imagery-driven scenery in it, especially the "pale, white horses" joining the allegory of death, the reality that literally none of us can avoid, even with our advanced and modern world of today. it brings to light the reminder of being human and thus ephemeral in a body. but how we take to the idea of going home is a turn in comfort that maybe can't be related to until majestic creatures arrive through the sound of clopping hooves, a sign of larger change, an energy-pressed transition.

and it helped to have john's memorized lines by weldon johnson paired with staged movements to match the visuals of the verses. see the performance at the link below, followed by a video of john's wife lily singing "were you there (when they crucified my lord)," which was said to have been first printed in 1899 and likely written by slaves in our country decades earlier.

the video of lily as well as photos are credited in great thanks to sam traten.

memoir poems at the other farm & forge.

memoirs were our attention's focus today in my traveling poetry class at the other farm & forge. reflecting on the life of the self, you know. roads were thankfully safe enough in rain-snow precipitation for a few students to arrive and spend time mulling over memoir-thinking through what's on paper. and the eats were delightful, too.