Poetry and Wild Animal Wisdom
About this Event
What does the wild have to teach us? How does a raven tilt her head just before flight? How does a deer shake off fear after a chase? What does a quail have to teach us? Which animals speak to you and capture your imagination or heal your aching heart? In this class you’ll discover three surprising animals to show you what you didn’t know about rhythm, about yourself and about language. These animal guides will enter your consciousness and animate your poems. We will explore how animals move without excess gesture—and how poems, too, thrive on economy. A line should spring like a fox—alert, exact, and purposeful. We will explore how metaphor excites our senses and arises from the soft animal body.
Wendy emphasizes craft alongside wonder and intuition. By the end of this workshop, participants will leave with drafts in hand and with an attuned senses of poetry is an ancient practice arising from rhythm, attentiveness and the natural world.
No experience necessary. All are welcome. Please bring a notebook and pen or pencil.
Wendy Videlock lives at the foot of Thunder Mountain in Western Colorado. Her poems and essays appear in Best American Poetry, Poetry Magazine, The New York Times, O Magazine, Hudson Review, Rattle, Hopkins Review and other venues. Her books include Wise to the West, The Poetic Imaginarium. Slingshots, The Dark Gnu and Nevertheless. Wendy is the two time recipient of the Keats Soul Making Award, and the winner of the Cantor Poetry Prize, The Fischer Prize, the PbtS Sonnet Prize and the Rattle Ekphrastic Prize. Wendy is a syndicated newspaper columnist for newspapers across the Four Corner States. She advocates for the arts in public spaces across the region. Her newest book, Desert Kin: Speaking Animal in the American Southwest, essays and poems, will appear in early September 2026.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 24.25
