There’s More Where That Came From: An Enthusiastic Approach to Revision

Facilitator:

Susan Blackwell Ramsey

Workshop Description:

There’s nothing greater than the feeling of having finished a poem, yet we’re often disappointed on rereading it. This workshop argues that this moment is where the real fun begins, that we should be grateful for first drafts because they provide us with the raw materials for exploration and discovery. Using approaches from detailed checklists and major surgery and recombination, participants will have a chance to experience approaches to revision wildly different from the notion of “fixing” the poem.

The facilitator asks that each participant bring a "dead poem", or a poem that has been left behind.

Note: This is an in-person workshop. Writing utensils and paper will be provided. Water and Coffee will also be available at the event. Please arrive several minutes early, so the workshop can start promptly on time.

Facilitator Bio:

Susan Blackwell Ramsey came to Kalamazoo in 1968 and never really got away again. With a BA from Kalamazoo College and an eventual MFA from the University of Notre Dame, she has taught creative writing at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Notre Dame and Kalamazoo College.She has received residencies at the Glen Arbor Arts Center, the Vermont Studio Center and MacDowell.Her writing has, among other places, appeared in Poetry Northwest, The Southern Review, 32 Poems, the Indiana Review, and Best American Poetry; her book, A Mind Like This, won the Raz/Shumaker Award from Prairie Schooner and was published by The University of Nebraska.

Host or Publisher Kalamazoo Poetry Festival