Grand Rapids Poets’ Conference

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4
11:30-12:45 | Website session: Rod Torreson with students, Thru the 3rd Eye; David Cope on professional websites and use of online sources.

Location: 108 Sneden
Exploration of Thru the 3rd Eye, Rod Torreson’s laureate project with students and former students: the website as a way of making connections, developing interviewing and review skills, selection of poems for publication by poets ranging from the well-known to the youthful beginner. If there is time, David Cope will also demonstrate the uses of the poet’s personal/professional website, “scene” sites and websites connecting one to the larger world of poetry publishing.

1:00-2:30 | Reading Series Panel:

Location: 108 Sneden
GVSU, Aquinas, Smokin’ Spoken Word, Literary Life Bookstore & More, WYCE Electric Poetry.
Featuring Patricia Clark, Linda Nemec Foster, Azizi Jasper, Zachary G. Tomaszewski, Deirdre Chervenka Cunningham
Moderator: David Cope
The reading series is both an important means by which to bring local communities of writers together as fellow writers on a journey to awareness and a way to bring local communities into contact with nationally and internationally prominent poets whose work instills an awareness beyond the confines of the provincial limits of an otherwise disconnected local scene. This panel explores that nexus as seen through two major college series, two local reading series, and our local radio series. Panelists will also reflect on the importance of the audience, questions about the art of the reading, and promotion of the series.

2:30-4:25 | Performance / Spoken Word Poetry / Open Mic

Location: Sneden 108
Performers: Azizi Jasper, Poetry West Michigan poets
7:00-8:30 | READING: Patricia Clark, Rod Torreson, Azizi Jasper, David Cope.

Location: Library second floor.
Introduced by David Cope.
THURSDAY, APRIL 5
11:15-12:45 | Open mic reading.

Location: Sneden 108
MC: David Cope
1:00-2:15 | Poetry and Music with Linda Nemec Foster and Laszlo Slomovits

Location: Sneden 108
The poet and composer will perform, illustrating how two arts can coexist and enhance both arts

2:30-4:00 | Working with a Publisher: editors, copyright, contract, process of publication

Panelists: David Cope, Linda Nemec Foster, L. S. Klatt, Eric Greinke
Location: Sneden 108
Poetry is most importantly made visible through publication, first in journals, magazines, online zines, broadsheets and even self-published books. Young poets and writers entering the arena of publishing for the first time often do not understand the craft of publication, which involves the nature of submitting one’s work, working with editors, understanding of copyright and contracts, and the process of publication. This panel includes some of the most heavily published Grand Rapids poets, who will reflect on these questions and the journeys that they have made in the world of publication.

7:00-8:30 | READING: Linda Nemec Foster, L. S. Klatt, Miriam Pederson

Originally Published by The Grand Rapids Poet Conference, click here to view page archive.

“The Dream of Trees” by Dianne Carroll Burdick & Linda Nemec Foster

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The Dream of Trees

by Dianne Carroll Burdick & Linda Nemec Foster

 

To walk like the scarves
Of clouds, to abandon land
And never return

 

Originally Published by Rattle, click here to view article.

DIANNE CARROLL BURDICK: “I photographed all the images with black & white film and printed all images on fiber-base black & white paper. When the print is dry, I treat the paper with an oil-base solvent and color the image with colored pencils. ‘Dream of Trees’ was photographed at Moose Lake, Maine, around 7 a.m. My husband, Rob, and I were traveling from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, back home to Grand Rapids, Michigan. This view was too beautiful not to stop.”

LINDA NEMEC FOSTER: “Throughout my writing career, I have had a deep interest in collaborating with others. In 1998 Dianne Carroll Burdick asked me to write poems in response to her photography for a collaborative art/poetry exhibit called ‘The Good Earth.’ I composed haiku—the traditional form created by Japanese poets over 500 years ago. Then, as now, haiku were written in response to the natural world: the human reaction to the landscape that we are a part of, yet separate from. Ultimately, this project was not only about the landscapes of images and words, but about ourselves: how each of us reflects the universe that the world contains.”

 

“Playground” by Dianne Carroll Burdick & Linda Nemec Foster

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DIANNE CARROLL BURDICK: “I photographed all the images with black & white film and printed all images on fiber-base black & white paper. When the print is dry, I treat the paper with an oil-base solvent and color the image with colored pencils. ‘Playground’ was photographed at my dad’s ranch in Ukiah, California. Strangely enough, Ukiah spelled backwards is haiku. My dad, Bruce Carroll, had 200 acres called Round Mountain, and when I would visit, I would always twirl near the spot that this photograph was taken, to enjoy the vast beauty of the land.”

LINDA NEMEC FOSTER: “Throughout my writing career, I have had a deep interest in collaborating with others. In 1998 Dianne Carroll Burdick asked me to write poems in response to her photography for a collaborative art/poetry exhibit called ‘The Good Earth.’ I composed haiku—the traditional form created by Japanese poets over 500 years ago. Then, as now, haiku were written in response to the natural world: the human reaction to the landscape that we are a part of, yet separate from. Ultimately, this project was not only about the landscapes of images and words, but about ourselves: how each of us reflects the universe that the world contains.”


PLAYGROUND

She wants to run, twirl
Follow the path all the way
To her past: those trees

Originally Published by Rattle, click here to view article.