April 20, 2013 SEMO Writers’ Guild Meeting
Cape Girardeau Public Library
In lieu of President Jan’s late arrival, VP Marybeth called
meeting to order.
The first item on the agenda was if there were any donations
to be added to the Basket War basket for the MWG conference. She asked if there
were any suggestions on names for the basket, but there were none. So, Jan,
Marybeth, and Donna chose a name “Everything a Writer Always Wanted but was
Afraid to Ask For.”
Next, speaker, Marilyn Hutchings, Reference Assistant at the
Cape Girardeau Library, was introduced. She shared two handouts on ‘Found’
poetry. One from Annie Dillard and one that Marilyn wrote. She noted one of the
problems with people reading poetry is that they think it has to have a
meaning, and usually a hidden meaning. Sometimes, however, she pointed out that
there is no hidden meaning.
One form of poetry she shared was ‘Found’ poetry, where an
idea or image is taken from another’s writing and thereafter forming another
poem. With this kind of poetry you don’t have to start from scratch. You can
take someone else’s words and take bits and pieces and refashion and remake it
into a poem. She stated that Found poetry is “a word collage in art!”
She suggested that writers interested in this form of
poetry, to visit the “Found Poetry Review.” They publish twice a year. They
have prompts on their website that you can take bits and pieces to create your
own poem. They also have a blog.
Marilyn also shared some poets who took poetry to a
different level: Some were David Lehman who wrote The Evening Sun, in which he wrote a stream-of-consciousness poem
for each day of the year. Another was John Caddy, Morning Earth, who wrote poems in his journal about the first thing
he experienced each morning. She also shared Christian Bok’s Eunoia, in which he wrote lipograms, and
used each vowel for each chapter when writing his poems.
Next, in celebration of National Poetry month, several of
our members and guests read poetry.
Sam Deusinger
Bill Hopkins
Bill WhitlockRichard Flentge
Marybeth Niederkorn
Rick Lettau
Our next meeting in May will be Saturday, May 18. This is a
week earlier than our regular meeting, due to Memorial Day weekend.
--Submitted by Donna Essner
