"We get so many poetry entries for the writers' contest, hundreds," said Janet Bowen, HCOA executive director. "There is definitely a large pool of youth poets in Homer."
This is the third year HCOA has offered these workshops with Freeman, who was raised in Homer and now teaches literature and creative writing at the International School of Paris.
The class schedule balances classroom time with field trips to inspire creative energy and help writers focus on the surrounding natural beauty.
The youth class meets from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. July 11-15. Various forms — haiku, ode, lullaby, descriptive narrative, epistolary and prose poems — will provide avenues to capture what is observed and arrange it into presentations to be shared with friends and family at a public reading at the end of the week-long session.
"After the class is over, the parents come in and (the students) do a public reading for them," Bowen said. "It's nice to give them that experience of reading their work out loud for their parents."
Adults will address the basic question, "Why do I write?" To answer that, according to Freeman, they will explore individual idiosyncratic desire, necessity, urge and inspiration to put thoughts on the page.
"We shall read selections which discuss and reflect upon personal and philosophical reasons for poetry writing," Freeman said. "We shall write prose poems, poems in question form, and very, very short essays, taking inspiration from contemporary and celebrated modern poets including Barbara Guest, Henri Michaux, Ranier Maria Rilke and Lev Rubinstein."
The adult class meets from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 23 and 24. There is a limit of 20 students in each class. For information on fees or to register, call HCOA at 235-4288.
McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.
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