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.

blooms & burned bodies as lines of poetry in our january 2018 traveling poetry class.

in mid-ish late january, my traveling poetry class met at the new dunkin' donuts in phoenixville near rapps dam road, reading through and discussing the richly-filled writing of anne michaels, a canadian poet. her poems have a stirring resonance and warmth which all four of us welcomed on a sunday afternoon during the season of chilly months. i particularly loved my students' poems this round, shared in the later part of class. you can see some scenes of their throwings and line breaks in the second and fourth eye-scenes below. (the third photograph is a wordless poem, shh.)

traveling poetry classes in february 2018 at the other farm & forge & mario's pizza: focusing on memoir & amiri baraka poems.

february's traveling poetry classes will focus on memoir poems as their own approach and the works of amiri baraka who was recommended by one of my students. baraka died in 2014 and is from newark, new jersey.

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.

during the first class of the month, we'll meet at the other farm & forge (formerly called the other farm brewing company) in boyertown. the second class will be at our recent once-a-month hangout of mario's pizza in boyertown.

next classes–

when: sunday, february 4 @ 1 p.m. & sunday, february 18 at @1 p.m.

(IMPORTANT: the february 18 class is canceled due to weather; we'll focus on amiri baraka's poetry likely in march)

where: for february 4, the other farm & forge (formerly called the other farm brewing company) at 128 east philadelphia avenue, boyertown, pa 19512; for february 18, mario's pizza is at 159 south reading avenue, boyertown, pa 19512

 
optional themes of focus:

    sunday, february 4–memoir poems
    sunday, february 18–amiri baraka poems

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.

john foster reading martin luther king, jr.'s ''i have a dream speech'' in january 2018.

on the january 2018 episode of diversity: a wider vision hosted by dr. joseph amprey through bctv.org, john foster read dr. martin luther king, jr.'s "i have a dream speech" from august 28, 1963. foster is known for giving his own speeches around the region, and these memorized words in honor of today's celebration are laced with poetry and deeper significance which it seems we can't bring into conversation enough, even today. below is video footage, with foster's performance of dr. king's speech starting at 3 minutes and 40 seconds into the recording.

robert frost poems in january weather: a fitting pair.

in the cold of early january, my traveling poetry class met at mario's pizza again like in december but this time for reading through robert frost poems and ones of different kinds of topics from my students. fittingly, a good chunk of the robert frost poems which we went over were about snow-thinking sorts of weather.

and i also recently wrote a hoagie haiku inspired by this restauant, along with food-talks stemming from our class, for the visit boyertown PA site. lots of inter-weaving lines across it all, yes.

here are some eye-scenes from our latest class amid pizza, hoagies, hoagies, and burgers.