**Where Have All the Workshop Venues Gone?**

 

Since the Pandemic, there has been a tremendous overturn of venues that used to happily host open poetry mics. Some have closed, and some are no longer willing to make the space available. Zoom has become a contender, and has its advantages as well as drawbacks. In a Zoom reading, one can interact with poets from across the country and around the world, a rarity at best in the Before Times. Unlike a live reading, however, interaction is limited to private chats and public conversations instead of intimate chit-chats in a dark corner of the coffee shop. But nothing is perfect. With Zoom, Calling All Poets (CAPS) would have been doomed, and it still maintains an ambitious online schedule while waiting for its next physical venue to emerge. The Woodstock Poetry Society currently holds hybrid meetings at the Woodstock Library, an ironic twist since its previous incarnation, the Stone Ridge Poetry Society, had its origins at that town’s library. The ART BAR is no more, so Teresa Costa’s Word of Mouth Poetry series (WOMP) is on hiatus, with hints of a future resurrection making the rounds.

But readings are one thing, and have ebbed and flowed in the 40+ years I’ve been attending. The current difficulty for me personally is finding a venue to offer my RANDOM WRITING poetry workshop at. Past locations are often history, or have incarnated into high priced rentals that are out of reach of my wallet. Talks are in the works for a session at the Poetry Barn, a fine addition to the poetry scene here in Ulster County. I am also making plans for a one-day event at a private home here in Kingston, NY, a generous offer I will tell more about soon. But the old days of a side room at the library, a bar, a church have all evolved in this newly “upscaled” valley into big buck endeavors.

Now, it is America for sure, and Capitalism still reigns supreme, even as the costs of housing, food, and healthcare rise to criminal heights. Everybody has a right to make a fair and reasonable buck. But now more than ever, we need arts that are accessible to the other 90%, people who can tell the stories of life without trust funds and safety nets. Groups like TMI are doing this good work, putting out there tales of the real world that most of us populate. And certainly I charge a fee for my workshop, too. Nothing I could actually pay the light and water bills with, but what I believe is fair compensation for my time and experience.

I have an opportunity to offer a session of my poetry workshop under the auspices of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. The stipulation is that it needs to be free to participants. A $100 stipend will cover my small expenses. However, I have reached out to three area libraries with no reply, even while emphasizing that the class would be free. I am at a loss now where else to look. Churches that once offered the use of their space for free or nominal charges are now making a business of it, it seems. I cannot think of a retail space that would be appropriate either, understanding how much they are all being overcharged for their own square footage. Finally, my own home is truly too small to host more than a couple friends at a time socially, let alone an eager group of poets!

Any ideas? I am open to suggestions. Perhaps in the spring one of the local parks would be an option. If the rent isn’t too high.

Workshopping Again: New Venue, New Approach

 

It’s been some time since I’ve facilitated one of my RANDOM WRITING workshops. Even pre-Pandemic, I struggled to find a venue and to frame the perimeters of a series. After having coffee with Will Nixon about six months ago, I realized that Lissa Kiernan and I had been batting this idea around for a couple years, and that I should just go ahead and formally propose it to her, to be held at the Poetry Barn in Hurley.

In this age of transformation in Ulster County, the Poetry Barn is one of those nice additions that does much to enhance the artistic landscape. Poetry in particular has always been the red-headed stepchild of the arts, and to have a permanent facility devoted to its promotion, via workshops, book signings, and a lending library, is a fortunate occurrence indeed. Readings wander from home to home, at the mercy of capitalist whims and needs. A series will go on for a year or two, then suddenly cease when the gallery or bar closes, or when the demands of a so-called public space become too much for a moderator to bear.

The Poetry Barn has proven itself for almost six years now, and I am happy to report that I will be instigating a four-part workshop series there in July. I say “instigate” because I don’t really believe the writing of poetry can be taught. Examples of forms can be offered, triggers for memory or emotion can be displayed, but I believe that anyone in attendance already has an innate sense of what poetry is to them, and where they want to go with their work. I enjoy this group format because it’s more efficient than sending work out to various publishers and receiving little to no feedback, even if poems are accepted for inclusion.

I believe above all else that poems are a form of communication, be they literal, abstract, or tethered to a rigid form. Words are for relating ideas or emotions to other humans. If the message isn’t getting across, wouldn’t you want to know before years pass? I’ve certainly come across many poets who, instead of striving for clarity, defend the words they’ve chosen. Often these arguments go on for longer than the poem in question! If your goal is mere entertainment, smokes and mirrors without substance, have at it. I think words deserve better.

Of course, for me sincerity carries a lot of weight in a poem. The more one writes, the clearer one’s ideas will usually become. If you begin by discarding cliches, avoid regurgitating notions you’ve seen in the Hallmark card aisle, that’s as solid a start as one can hope for. And if you never show anyone your poems, I think it’s a terrible shame. But it is your choice. I understand fear of criticism, or worse, no reaction at all. But poems live their fullest lives out in the open. We live our best life as poets when we put the words out for others to consider.

Poetry has made my life delicious. It’s a portable art that requires no more of an investment than paper and pen. And I do insist on handheld writing instruments for first drafts. In this age of computer word programs, a pen will slow one down just enough to see what comes next. Paper is no commitment, by any means. Rewriting is common, and I even go back to my first drafts if I feel the third or fourth version is falling a little flat. There I’ll find a few of the original sparks that drove me to write in the first place.

My RANDOM WRITING  workshop series at the Poetry Barn is on July 7,14, 21 & 28, from 6:30- 8:30pm. Tuition is $150 for all four sessions, and there may even still be a scholarship spot available. For more information, please go to https://www.poetrybarn.co/ for more information.

 See you there?