HOW TO WRITE GOOD POEMS: AN ADVANCED POETRY WORKSHOP with Michael Pacey

Michael Pacey will offer an Advanced Poetry Workshop on June 4th as part of WordSpring; participants will explore two common types of contemporary poems: the Object Poem and the History poem. Michael will read and explore some excellent examples of each type as a group, from fine writers like Pablo Neruda, W.B. Yeats and Sue Sinclair, and offer numerous tips on how to pen successful poems in each mode. Workshop participants will be invited to come up with possible subjects beforehand--about either an everyday household object, or a brief historical encounter or event (you can of course do drafts of both types, if you prefer). You may even write a draft or two beforehand and bring these along to the workshop to share with the group, as time permits. Michael will include a few spontaneous exercises before we begin.

Michael Pacey

A native of Fredericton, Michael Pacey is a poet, children’s author and teacher, having taught creative writing workshops at UBC, UNB (both Fredericton and Saint John campuses), Lakehead University and previous WFNB events. More than a hundred and twenty-five of Michael’s poems have been published in leading Canadian literary magazines (Arc, The New Quarterly, The Malahat Review, etc.) and even a few in the UK and U.S. His poems have twice appeared in the Best Canadian Poems in English series.

Michael will also be reading from his new poetry collection, Wild Apples: a Dialogue with Thoreau, on Saturday afternoon.