Join Vermont River Conservancy in connecting with our riverlands through poetry. We'll read pieces from diverse styles, cultures, and time periods, share the reflections that they provoke for us, and talk through the poetic craft moves that make them tick. Then we'll set off to write. What will you discover when you let the words flow?

Represented poets and translators include Elizabeth Arnold, Linnea Axelsson, Wendell Berry, Julie Cadwallader-Staub, Jennifer Chang, Lucille Clifton, Robert Frost, Lawson Fusao Inada, David Hinton, Langston Hughes, Richard Hugo, Joseph Hutchinson, Louise Imogen Guiney, Yang Jian, Xiao Kaiyu, Jane Kenyon, Hsieh Ling-yun, Gerard Manley Hopkins, George Marion McClellan, Ginger Murchison, Alistair Noon, Raymond Roseliep, Tracy K. Smith, Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Saskia Vogel, Wang Wei, Richard Wilbur, and more.

The workshop will be facilitated by Hayley Kolding, VRC's Southern Vermont Conservation Manager. Hayley is a naturalist and ecologist with a special passion for birds, plants, and river science. She is also a poet and former high school English teacher. As a Creative Writing student in her pre-VRC years, she was selected as an advisee by the late, great Louise Gluck, studying also with mentors including Christian Wiman and Peter Cole.

Whether your interests lie in river and flood science, poetry, or both, you can count on great conversations and a memorable experience in this workshop.

Logistics:

-Free and open to the public
-Meet at Brooks Memorial Library upstairs in the Community Meeting Room (Room A)
-You are invited to bring your lunch; tea will be provided.

Each Tuesday will feature different poems and topics. Attend all five if you can, or drop in on a week-by-week basis. We will read poems aloud and discuss them from 12-1 and have an optional writing/discussion time from 1-2 for those who are able to stay longer.

If possible, please help us get a head count by registering online in advance. Thank you!

Apr 28, 2024, 1 to 4 PM

Apr 29, 2024, 12:30 to 2 PM

May 1, 2024, 7 PM