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Writing in the gardens at Kykuit.
The Pocantico Center
All participants must provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 (two weeks after second dose in a two-dose series, such as Pfizer or Moderna, or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson).
The natural world has inspired contemporary and historical poets like Elizabeth Bishop, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Mary Oliver. During this daylong outdoor workshop with local poet and teacher Lynn McGhee, aspiring poets will learn about the plants, trees, wildlife, birds, and insects of the Pocantico Center’s historic gardens and grounds, as well as human-made features such as sculptures and fountains, to prompt their own poetic musings.
Participants will practice strategies for developing a draft poem, talking about poems, providing feedback to other writers, and incorporating the feedback of others into their own work. Each will observe, reflect, free-write, and compose a first draft of an original poem to share in a small group.
Lunch will be provided. Rain date is Tuesday, October 5.
Lynn McGee
Instructor
Lynn McGee is the author of the poetry collections Tracks (Broadstone Books, 2019) and Sober Cooking (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2016) and award-winning poetry chapbooks Heirloom Bulldog (Bright Hill Press, 2015) and Bonanza (Slapering Hol Press, 1997). She earned an MFA in Poetry at Columbia University and taught writing at Columbia, George Washington University, Brooklyn College, CUNY, and others. She is on the advisory committee of Slapering Hol Press, the imprint of the Hudson Valley Writers Center.