Events and News | Mary Christine Delea

Poetry Events and News

On-going

Peeled Citrus Prompts

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and Sundays (the Sunday prompts are the same ones as my blog).

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UPCOMING

PAST EVENTS

Beyond the Ekphrastic: Free Poetry Workshop

Friday, April 19, 2024

4:00-6:00

Oregon City Public Library

606 John Adams Street

Oregon City, OR 97045

Celebrate National Poetry Month by joining me for this workshop. We will be focusing on ekphrastic poetry (poetry that describes another piece of art) by looking beyond traditional ways of writing ekphrastic poems.

We will read and discuss some poems and then participants will have time to write their own ekphrastic poems using art workday a variety of artists. Participants can then share what they have written if they wish to.

All participants will receive a packet of poems and a list of further prompts to try.

Click on the link below to register at the Oregon City Public Library.

https://orcity-library.libcal.com/event/12289852

Thrive Guides Connections Cafe

Saturday, December 16, 2023

1:00-2:30

Rose City Book Pub

1329 NE Fremont Street, Portland, OR

$10

Light snacks and a hand-out of winter-themed poems, which we will be discussing.

Free Poetry Workshop: Find Your Voice with Persona Poems

SUNDAY, AUGUST 13

1:00-3:30

Oregon City Public Library

606 John Adams Street

Oregon City, OR 97045

We will read and discuss some of my favorite contemporary persona poems, and examine how being someone else can help you find your own voice. Then we will use some prompts and write persona poems. Participants who wish to share their new drafts will be able to read what they just wrote in response to a workshop prompt.

Every attendee will leave with a draft (or more), a set of prompts, and other helpful hand-outs.

THE SEALEY CHALLENGE

AUGUST 1--AUGUST 31

Some of you may know about this than me, as I had not heard of it until today. It is a truly wonderful idea, as is anything that promotes, shares, and encourages people to read poetry.

The gist is, you read a book of poetry each day in August. It was started by poet nicole sealey (click here for her web site), and if you click on the link below, you can find out more information about the challenge, which started in 2017.

Books, chapbooks, anthologies--any poetry book is game. You should, apparently--again, this is new to me--photograph your poetry journey and share the photos online with the hashtag: #TheSealeyChallenge.

Definitely head to the website for The Sealey Challenge--it even includes a great list of books if you don't know where to start.

I, of course, urge you to read books by poets featured on my blog!

To go to the site and get more information, click: The Sealey Challenge

To see what I am reading for #thesealeychallenge2023, click here.

ONGOING

Ohio Reading Road Trip

In 2002, two of my many poems about Marietta, Ohio, were published in a wonderful anthology entitled I Have My Own Song for It: Modern Poems of Ohio (edited by Elton Glaser and William Greenway). One of the poems, "Leaving Downtown Marietta, Ohio, 1983" has been included on the Ohio Reading Road Trip web site, along with a poem by Ron McFarland, for a lesson called Contemporary Ohio Poets Extension Activities: The Poetry of Leaving. The page includes a wonderful lesson plan. I encourage anyone who is teaching poetry to check out this resource. Click here to go to the page that discusses my poem. And to read a great essay about why every student in this country should be studying poetry, click here; it will take you to Tony Hoagland's "Twenty Poems That Could Save America." He also has a book by the same name.

Lesson Plan

A lesson plan for college students. This lesson includes my poem, "CoCo Chanel in the Stairwell" and Rebecca Brown's "Forgiveness."

PAST

Sunday, February 19: Love Is Strange Online Poetry Workshop

Another fundraising online workshop. Benefits For Goodness Cakes, PDX Chapter

Sunday, May 15, 2022: Food, Glorious Food! Poetry Workshop

Fundraising online workshop. Benefits For Goodness Cakes, PDX Chapter

2009: Poet in the Schools

Pratum and Butte Creek Schools in the Silverton, OR area

October 2021: All Month

Each month, Tupelo Press, a literary publisher in Massachusetts, has a group of poets write a poem each day. These poems appear on the TP web site every day as a fundraiser for the press, as well as a way of spreading poetry to more people. I raised $500 during this month and did write 30 poems that month.

Previous Readings

Portland, OR

Oregon City, OR

Salem, OR

Vancouver, WA

Lexington, KY

Richmond, KY

Seaside, OR

Grand Forks, ND

West Islip, NY

Previous Workshops

Roseburg, OR