Poetics

The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

Poetics

Glennis Hobbs

How to Start a Poetry Group

Have you ever finished a poetry course or gone to a workshop that has been very successful? The creative spark has been burning and you'd just like to keep that momentum going.

Perhaps you live in a remote area and you'd like to link up with other poets who think the way you do and exchange ideas for feedback.

The solution is simple. Start a poetry group.

You tell yourself that you could never do that. Well, with a little gumption and some hard work, you can get a group started.

First of all, start with your local sources. Contact your public library to see if they know of any local writers. Then check with your local arts council or your community college. These places may have names to suggest. If you have taken a writing course, approach your teacher or your classmates.

Do you have a local cable access channel or a local radio station that runs community announcements? Consider putting an ad over these stations. You might even wish to insert an ad in your local paper. Put an announcement over your local radio station. Often the media is willing to run public service announcements or stories. Give a phone number and an e-mail address where you can be contacted. You might even ask the library or your arts council if they would take names for you.

Once you have a few leads, return calls promptly. Ask for names of other persons to contact or ask people you have communicated with to get in touch with others.

You do not need a plethora of bodies. Anywhere from five to ten is a good number to start with. Now it's time to start think about holding an organizational meeting. There are many places which will provide free space.

Be certain to advertise your meeting well in the newspaper, on cable announcements and on the radio. Ask if you can put posters up around town.

Before your first meeting, write down some organizational notes. Think about what you want to accomplish with a writer's group. Do you want a group that says, "Wow, your work is terrific!" Or are you serious about your writing and looking to improve your craft and looking for people who share that desire.

On the night of the meeting, be there early. Have a sign-up sheet for people to leave their names, phone numbers, and /or e-mail addresses. Appoint a chairperson and ask someone to act as secretary and take notes. Give people a chance to express their viewpoints and needs.

Once you have a structure in place, take advantage of people's desires to help and give them jobs. Someone may be experienced in dealing with the media and could make a good publicity chairperson. Others may want to help behind the scenes and could be asked to phone people or set up the meeting room and make coffee.

Other things you need to think about are, workshops, fees, meeting times, critiquing, meeting formats. Are you willing to learn? Are you willing to share your critiques? Can you develop a thick skin?

Once you have formed your group, publicize it well. If you contact your local media, they may be willing to do a local interest story. Consider sending in a press release to your local, state or provincial writing organization so that they can include it in their newsletter or online e-briefs.

It may take a bit of time to work out the glitches, but the rewards are great and the learning environment will be stimulating.

You may live in an isolated area or have little time to attend formal meetings. Perhaps you've taken an online course and it's come to an end. You've been enthusiastic about your course and wish it would never end. Perhaps you'd like to keep in contact with your classmates and pursue your poetry.

The answer could be to form an online poetry group.

Start with members of your class and ask if any of them would be interested in forming an online group. Some teacher's encourage their students to join an alumni group and keep in contact. One such group is Cindy Clarke's Writes of the Imagination group at writesoftheimagination.com.

You might also contact your local provincial or state writer's group. Many of these have an announcement section and will gladly carry an ad for you.

Some of the suggestions that pertain to forming a live group also will pertain to online groups. Again, have a purpose in mind and some basic ground rules.

Do you want a group that is strictly for critiquing? If so, you may wish to limit the number of people in a group. You may wish to ask people to submit a sample of their work before accepting them. Set ground rules for the number of poems that a person can send and also set some ground rules for critiquing. A good rule to follow is "if you want your work critiqued, you must participate." Do you want wonderful whitewash critiques or do you want helpful constructive critiques? Are you willing to give the type of critiques you want to get yourself? Set up some time guidelines.

If you are a member of WVU, consider joining a Study Group. WVU provides a study group called Word Weavers which is strictly for poets to poetry and share and receive critiques. However there are other study groups which also welcome poets.

WVU also has a Senior Poet's workshop P123 which is an open workshop for experienced poets. Here writers will hone their skills as advanced poets, study recognized poets, expand their knowledge of poetic forms, participate in the development of group exercises. They have a place to pursue literary critiques of poems. They also take part in online chats to discuss poets and poetry.

Being part of a live or an online poetry group will not only encourage you to write poetry, but will also develop your critiquing skills and your knowledge of your craft. Being part of a group will be challenging and rewarding. Best of all, you will be part of a group of people who share your love for poetry.