The Day Poem

We’ve moved online! All workshops will be conducted through Zoom, an interactive platform that allows you to participate in exercises and contribute to group conversation in your workshops. The day before your workshop you’ll receive an email with a link to Zoom for your workshop session.

Member Price: $22
Deadline to Register: August 4, 5 pm
Instructor: Karen vanMeenen

The Day Poem is a simple way to develop the poetic mind, connect with the world around you (in more ways than one), and practice paying attention. In this workshop, you will learn to create short poems about noticing and engaging with the world on daily walks close to home. This process will lead you to reflect on your values and priorities, and inspire you to write more frequently. In the current era, this form can also provide both solace and routine in your poetic and observational practice. Guidelines for writing Day Poems with examples will be sent in advance by email. In our workshop meeting, we will share writing and process the experience, as well as look toward more opportunities to work with the Day Poem.

Karen vanMeenen has directed Writers & Books’ Rochester Reads program since 2001. A senior lecturer at Rochester Institute of Technology, teaching courses in Writing, Literature, and Contemporary Media Art, she has served as the Editor of the media arts journal Afterimage for more than 25 years. She edited the collections Giving Sorrow Words: Poems of Strength and Solace; Light At the End: Poems, by Lyn Lifshin; and Nevermore: Poetry and Prose by Edgar Allan Poe. She is certified as a writing therapist and serves on the executive board of the National Association for Poetry Therapy and as the Book Reviews Editor for the Journal of Poetry Therapy. vanMeenen has Master of Arts degrees in Transformative Language Arts and in Media Studies, and is completing a PhD program in Philosophy, Art & Critical Thought at the European Graduate School.