Building Your Poetry Machine

Workshop Description: It’s easy to get bogged down with the idea of writing a poem when we think of it as a one-off precious object, or something dependent on a moment of inspiration. Instead, let’s unbog by inventing our own poem machines— essentially unique conceptual frameworks— that can jumpstart our compositions, and provide a more mechanized daily encounter with our little worlds. Through our machines, processes and concepts play out in the poem, and inform how we notice and listen and invite the unexpected. Over the course of this 2 hour zoom workshop, we’ll look at examples of poem machines in a shared word doc that will guide our thinking about how poems get made. Participants will leave with the tools for thinking about how to create their own poem machines.

Workshop Fee: $35 – $100

Register here

This workshop is part of a series of fundraisers to support the IPRC, with a suggested donation of $35 – $100. The first 25 people to register will also receive a limited edition print created by Harper Quinn, at the IPRC in conjunction with the release of Hear Oars (Two Plum Press, 2021).

Facilitator: Zachary Schomburg

Artist bio: Zachary Schomburg is an artist, poet, novelist, teacher, and publisher of the independent poetry press, Octopus Books.  He lives in Portland, OR.