Writing Poems About Love and Sex with Catherine Strisik
Writing evocative poems is complex because a writer exposes private vulnerabilities when making desires known. When expressing love, desire, obsession, intimacy, passion through your poems, language needs to be direct, effective, and without clichés; poetry that is both beautiful and steamy at the same time. This workshop will explore the variations of how poetic forms describe and express. The workshop will emphasize craft, citing examples, without the use of a dirty word, or the word, “love,” and through specific and careful word choices, what makes them work. Examples will include: Lucille Clifton, E.E. Cummings, Shakespeare, Robert Hass, and others. We will write poems that are precise, using language to generate imagery that will elicit a reaction. Catherine Strisik is a poet, and author of most recently, "The Mistress" (3: A Taos Press, 2016). Catherine is co-editor of Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art (www.taosjournalofpoetry.com), Strisik also teaches privately and is available for readings, workshops, and interviews. She lives in San Cristobal, New Mexico.