“Seeing Things” – An Intensive Poetry Workshop Taught by Robert Bensen

March 8 – May 10

All ages, Mondays, 7 – 9 PM, 10-week session

Poetry enables us to “see things”: to see what is and what is not, in the domains of the senses and imagination. We develop our practice of writing by drawing upon both. Workshop participants send one or two new poems each week for the group to consider thoughtfully and respectfully with comments that encourage revision. In theory and practice, the workshop serves as an articulate, responsive audience for the poet, who learns from the members’ responses to the poem.  We also write in-session with various prompts and group activities. Since all artists benefit by knowing the history and achievements of their art, we read poets from many time periods and cultures.  We read poets with a range of subjects and forms as models for our own practice. We exchange ideas about publishing opportunities in online and print environments. Our agenda can be adjusted depending on the experience and preferences of the poets.  While we met in-person for the first two 10-week sessions, we have met since March 2020 online. We also sponsor “Tiny Desk Readings,” which features poets outside the workshop whom we invite to read for 20 minutes at the beginning of a session. The workshop is conducted by Robert Bensen.

This session is now full. Please contact beatrice@brighthillpress.org for waitlist updates.

Robert Bensen (Oneonta, NY)  has conducted the “Seeing Things” workshop at Bright Hill since Spring 2019.  The latest of his six collections of poetry is Before (Five Oaks Press, 2019). His poetry has appeared in The Paris Review, Callaloo, The Caribbean Writer, Native Realities, Jamaica Journal, AGNI, Akwe:kon, Poetry Wales, The Thomas Hardy Review, Ploughshares, and others.  He has written numerous critical essays on British, Caribbean and Native American literature, and has edited anthologies of those literatures, most recently Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child Custody and Education. He is Emeritus Professor of English and former Director of Writing at Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY (1978-2017). He also teaches at the State University of New York—Oneonta.

Bright Hill Tiny Desk Series to be published in 2021 featuring national poets.