RSVP for June 2023 Meeting
Topic: Tighten Your Writing with a Poetry Game
Monday June 26 6:30-7:30PM
Live/Limited seating Free for all Participants
Co-presented by CWCM and Mill Valley Public Library
RSVP here: Mill Valley Public Library Events/Poetry Writing Game
Anyone who aspires to be a better writer knows the importance of thoughtful word choice and editing. The best writers exercise these muscles every day—but sometimes we forget how much fun writing can be, especially when we do it with friends. Bring your pencil to this one-hour interactive poetry workshop cohosted by CWC Marin and the Mill Valley Public Library. The game is a riff on the Japanese linked verse game known as renga, played by Japanese aristocrats a thousand years ago. In it, each person composes a haiku, then passes it to a neighbor, who completes it with a 14-syllable couplet. This simple, limited poetry form encourages participants to choose words and metaphors with care. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a great poet, you just have to be ready to play with words.
About the Speaker:
Jean has been a student of the Japanese language since she first went to Japan as an exchange student in the 1980s. She is currently writing a book about Japanese feminist poet Yosano Akiko (1878-1942). She has translated hundreds of Akiko’s poems and posted them online. Jean is a Board member of the California Writers Club of Marin and a member of the Marin Poetry Center, the Tanka Society of America, Left Coast Writers, and the Japan Foundation.
