Want to talk about poetry or get feedback on your own work? Visit these boards & workshops to find the Net poetry community that suits you.
A list of suggestions to get you writing poems again when you're blocked. About Poetry Guide Bob Holman has lots of ways to unblock, tap your poetic springs, get the poems flowing, write first time, every time.
Part workshop, part coffeehouse, part reference library... our own Poetry Forum is a fine place to post your poems for comment, participate in the monthly
InterBoard Poetry Competition, tap the collective wisdom of a growing group of poets & verbivores, & talk about poetry, performance and publication.
This writing group began with face-to-face workshops in Albany, California, but they have quite successfully recreated the workshop online: Check
the syllabus for reading & writing assignments,
submit your own poems with questions for discussion & critique, or go straight to the
forums to view the posted poems & comments.
Since 2002 former
InterBoard Poetry Competition judge
Joan Houlihan has been running these paid workshops at
webdelsol. At Algonkian, The Art of Poetry begins with craft & critique, then moves on through “portfolio-building” to “manuscript preparation.”
“Where poetry lovers practice poetry.” Now hear this text. Write now! A self-guided wordshop with poetry lessons, exercises, essays, a forum & a newsletter. Hie thee, Birdcage!
The New Blueline Poetry Forum asks that its members critique at least three other poems for every one that they post. It’s hosted by a staff of regulars plus a rotating “guest moderator” each month.
Cafe Utne is the “salon” offered by
Utne Reader Online. You’ll have to join & get a password to read & post in the conferences, but it’s free & the Motet conferencing software is easy to use. When you get in, go to the literature conference & dive into one of the many poetry topics.
Anitra Freeman’s email workshop offers original exercises in an open-ended format: new ones are periodically posted, members can do the exercises in whichever order works for them & then post their work to the email list for critique.
The RoundTable, moderated by
Melic Review editor
C.E. Chaffin, had a good reputation for craft commentary & has been revived in a new location.
Naropa University’s online courses occasionally include writing classes from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, like
Lisa Jarnot’s Poetry Workshop - Great Companions.
The WeLL has long been known as a haven on the Net for intelligent conversation in threaded, hosted conferences. You have to become a member of the WeLL to get into the poetry conference, but it’s a great space to post your poems for comment or discuss anything & everything with other poets & poetry lovers.
Writer’s Block, which calls itself “the kinder, gentler BBS (with an attitude),” is the poetry discussion board of the multifarious
webdelsol & one of the founding online forums in the monthly
InterBoard Poetry Competition.
Mike Barker, otherwise known as “
tink,” runs this
subscription listserv -- perfect for those who want to participate in a wide-ranging Internet conversation about writing via text email rather than graphics-intensive Web pages. Or use the Web version of
exercises contributed by members of the list as your own private self-service workshop.
Zeugma is a workshop consisting of submissions & critiques, plus an ancillary discussion forum & weekly chat sessions, open to “serious” poets by application only.
