The Massachusetts Poetry Festival 2016

Poetry is seldom stand-up comedy, but many poets use wry humor, irony and wit in the service of serious subjects. We’ll look at five short poems: by Shakespeare, John Berryman, Denise Duhamel, Charles Simic, and Thomas Lux. Their techniques include creating a self-deceiving or a ludicrous character, hyperbolic understatement, mockery, surreal storytelling, and mixing ordinary but contradictory elements. The workshop will break into small groups to brainstorm ideas about using the techniques of each poem. The class will then be given 15 minutes to begin writing a poem. Before leaving, the group will share what they have achieved (as time permits). We'll also share email addresses for mutual encouragement in completing our poems. Each participant will be given a short pamphlet with other poems – including those by James Tate, Mary Jo Bang, Wislawa Szymborska, and Tony Hoagland -- and ideas for using them as models.