Poetry Workshops

Four award-winning poets, including Washington’s state poet laureate, will offer poetry workshops this fall at Mindport Exhibits, 210 W. Holly St.

On Saturday, Oct. 26, from 10 a.m. to noon, Stefania Heim will lead a workshop on “Ekphrastic Practice: Writing with Art,” in which participants will write poems that “describe, animate, and talk back” to art in all genres.

Also on Oct. 26, from 1 to 3 p.m., Keetje Kuipers (pronounced Kay-tcha Ky-pers) will lead a workshop called “Bringing Back the Magic.” Participants will examine magical realism in poetry and engage in writing exercises that ask them to “invent magic” and “acknowledge the ethereal all around us.”

On Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to noon, Claudia Castro Luna will lead a workshop called “When in Doubt Make a List.” Poets use lists widely as armature for their poems, she says. “Sometimes the lists are so well disguised it takes some sleuthing to see them, at others it is the obvious structural element. We take a close look at poems that contain lists and write our own.”

Also on Dec. 7, from 1 to 3 p.m., Lena Khalaf Tuffaha will lead a workshop called “Self-Portrait, Selfie, and Snap Poems,” in which participants will “explore the blurry boundaries between these forms and use them to generate thrilling and revelatory poem drafts.”

Cost is $30 for one workshop or $50 for both workshops offered the same day, paid by check or cash at the workshop. To register, send an email to boyntonpoetrycontest@hotmail.com indicating the workshop(s) you wish to take and including your name and phone number. For complete workshop descriptions and instructor bios, see the workshops page at https://thepoetrydepartment.wordpress.com.