Poetry Writing Workshop for Seniors with Steven Sher

In this new series of workshops, we will explore how dreams play an integral part in our poetry, how surrealism (/magic realism) can be used as an effective tool in forging imagery, and how mysticism (e.g., Kabbalah) can expand our poetic vision. Aside from writing exercises and home assignments (a new poem each week: 4 total per poet), we will examine the work of poets such as Langston Hughes, Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Seamus Heaney, John Ashbery, Billy Collins, etc. Everyone should write a short poem describing a recent or recurring dream, and bring it to the first session.

Steven Sher is the author of 14 books including, most recently, Grazing On Stars: Selected Poems (Presa Press, 2012) and The House of Washing Hands (Pecan Grove Press, 2014). He has taught writing for more than 35 years at many universities, workshops, festivals, writers in the schools programs and his poetry and prose have appeared in some 350 publications around the world.