I am now running a workshop on technical aspects of using computers, word processing and sound recording. It is not specifically about any aspect of poetry, it is about using Windows and Macs to greatest benefit.

It will run concurrently with other workshops as it will not conflict with any of them or require much input from the participants.

What I need is input from you on what you would like to learn about, or what you would like others to learn about (often we don't know what we don't know because we don't know it).

In any relationship, you will have conflict. It is the nature of things and is, in and of itself, neither good nor bad. It is gravity. It exits and ignoring it doesn't negate its influence, it just generates surprise when the consequences of ill thought actions manifest.

I will detail an allegory about raising my children to illustrate my point, but, just so we are all on the same pages, I am talking about the Neopoet community.

For those of you I have spoken to… it is time.
I will begin the workshop on the Ballade shortly. Being that it is the most difficult form I know, it will be held in the Shark Tank. Being that a Ballade must tell a story, it is being held under the auspices’ of Storytelling in Verse.
The goal is simple: to write a classic 14th century Ballade with all the trimmings.
I have said this before, but I will say it again… I expect the workshop to be “intimate”, meaning I don’t expect a large turnout for such a difficult concept.

Observations from the lookout of the Bruny island neck (Tasmania) - where there is a small tribute plaque to Truganini (last surviving tribal Aborigine - many desendants still on the islands) - a truly beatuful place, but with a certain troubled past:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truganini

On the neck of Bruny island

Tributes to Truganini

Aquamarine sea

Exploding surf

No penguins.

Vistas unmatched

Bluffs that hide nothing

In my humble opinion ..
please garbage it
anyone and all

Any piece of art
painting or poetic
which emanates from within
as an emotion
in rhythm rhyme or free verse
with or without
proper syllable counts
as needed in
Sonnets and Haikus
but flows like the
Niagara does,
it is poetry for me

Like it or not its ones
own version
we all can't produce
stereotyped gems
all the time,
else we'd be better called
as artizans
not poets at all...

Rhythm vs. Meter.

What is rhythm?

Rhythm is the flow of the poem. How it reads, whether smooth and moving from one word to the next with ease or choppy, clumsy and ugly.
Rhythm is what you get when you write a poem… good or bad.

Meter DESCRIBES what the rhythm is. With an understanding of meter we can guarantee our poem moves smoothly and identify difficulties in the work. Meaning, what works and what doesn’t and (most importantly):

Why!

Let’s begin at the beginning.

Some might be wondering why I'm, again, not commenting as much as usual. The medic I'm taking to alleviate the pain and numbness in my right arm and shoulder is apparently losing its effectiveness. I'm still reading but the typing required for commenting is becoming a bit difficult. I'm scheduled to see a spine and pain specialist on the 19th. Perhaps there is a non-surgical remedy available..........stan

Personally I don’t think there is any such thing as a beginning poet. Anyone who has put pen to paper is a poet as far as I’m concerned.
However, if you don’t know an iamb from an amphibrach then this workshop may benefit your poetry.
The shop will be an intimate one (no more than five or six participants), so we will have plenty of time to answer the questions I will pose.
It will be held in the Olympic Pool that it might be taken seriously, though the subject matter will be rudimentary.
The workshop will last about a week and be rather laid back.

I was as usual this morning reading the words of our poets.
Steve (Esker) Joe (Geremia) and of course Rula, words of feelings pain and a substance that I can only play with.
These poets are precious to our site they bring true feelings, if only we could bottle this and give it away.
There is a need for us to understand what is written, just reading is not good enough, how to feel.
It would be great if one of these three would do a workshop on feelings then maybe we would be able to write more from their teaching with truthfulness.

We're going to start this month doing something different. Below is a list of entries and authors. This should make it easier for those who care to review all the fine poems with ease :
THE TREE by eliminist
COME SEPTEMBER by loverly
A SEASON IN THE SOUTHERN LAND by vandiemenspeak
HURRY THE HELL UP by wesley snow
AUTUMN RISES SUMMER FALLS by Barbara Writes
HARVEST by China Blue
GREEN TO GOLD by Geezer
TIME OF CHANGE by scribbler
CHANGES by sparrow