The Block Island Poetry Project is a vibrant, multi-dimensional learning experience that blends poetry workshops with music, yoga, and dance. Participants will find ceremony and psychology, camaraderie and silence - all designed for the exploration and betterment of the spiritual condition of humanity, predicated on the belief that poets, as Shelley so famously stated, really are "the unacknowledged legislators of the world. "Through the weaving of words, poets have the ability to become a force for positive change in all the worlds they inhabit, ranging from the personal to the global. The 2007 series (March 22 - May 6) features six different weekends, each with a different area of concentration. Limited attendance, first rate teachers, intimate, innovative discussions and cutting edge thinking make the Block Island Poetry Project one of the most authentic learning experiences available to writers in all genres today.
The Spring poetry workshops provide a rare opportunity to learn from poets in a most personal and accessible setting. World renowned poets use their knowledge and intuition to guide participants in their own search for expression, creating a vibrant sense of immediacy that encourages spontaneity and collaboration. Lectures and group discussions are intimate, timely and inclusive. Daily workshops are complimented by mealtime camaraderie and evening poetry and musical performances.
2007 featured poets include:
- Kim Addonizio
- Coleman Barks
- Robert Bly
- John De Kadt
- Nick Flynn
- Tony Hoagland
- Marie Howe
- Valzhyna Mort
- Fran Quinn
- Patricia Smith
New areas of exploration:
- The Sufi movement (w/Coleman and Robert)
- Storytelling (Gioia Timpanelli)
- Earth activism (Jen Lighty)
- The sacred sweat lodge
- Yoga and writing w/wonder.
Faculty Information:
Enjoy themed discussions, workshops and exercises designed to help enhance and inform the way that you look at the poetry that you read and write. Limited attendance guarantees special attention to your own particular poetry questions and interests. Daily lectures are complimented by great meals, evening poetry and musical performances, open readings, and plenty of time for personal recreation.
Session 1: March 22-25: Music, Poetry and Translation. Featuring: Patricia Smith & Joshua Beckman (Wave Books), Keith Flynn (Asheville Poetry Review) and Mark Mulcahy. We'll write, sing, question and bridge the mediums in our first weekend. Poets and editors Beckman, Flynn, and Smith will be joined by electrifying musician Mark Mulcahy in a series of workshops designed to look at music, poetry, culture and the rhythms which flow through all three. One session will particularly look at what poetry editors are looking for today.
Session 2: March 29-April 1: Poetry with Teeth w/Kim Addonizio and Nick Flynn. A series of workshops designed to help you write better, stronger poems with two of America's finest, edgiest poets and teachers.
Session 3: April 12-15: Earth Tongue, Earth Medicine, Earth Stories. Join Yoga Master Jeff Davis, world-famous story-teller Gioia Timpanelli and earth activist Jen Lighty for a weekend of writing/yoga/stories designed to reconnect you, through breathing, moving, writing and listening, to the sacred physicality and truths of your own body and of our planet and mother, earth.
Session 4: April 19-22: Poetry and the sublime w/Robert Bly and Coleman Barks; Poetry and Revolutionw/Valzhyna Mort
Session 5: April 26-April 29: Poetry of Silence, Poetry of Voice Featuring Fran Quinn, Jay Leeming and John de Kadt.
Session 6: May 3-May 6: Poetry to Change the World w/Tony Hoagland and Marie Howe. Join two revolutionary teachers and poets as we work together, in small writing groups, to return and restore a language that has been stolen, abused and distorted back to itself and back to ourselves, as those who cultivate and nourish it. Featuring the Frantzich brothers.
Other Activities:
Each summer The Block Island Poetry Project celebrates the summer with a one-day festival in the backyard of The Hygeia House, a welcoming expanse of green on a hill with a fabulous view of The Great Salt Pond. Past highlights have included poetry readings by Mark Doty, National slam champ Roger-Bonair Agard, and Tom Chandler, State Poet of Rhode Island. Local folk musicians have entertained the crowd, as well as national acts like Aztec Two-Step and Marc Mulcahy. We eat, we dance, we drink, we laugh, we sing-what more could we want from life?
Facility Information:
Every guest room has a view of the water and the pristine 3-mile stretch of Crescent Beach is just a short stroll down the road. Seminars run from Thursday evening through Sunday morning.
Former BIPP participants may deduct $50 USD from the standard rate per workshop. Attend more than one workshop and deduct $50 USD from the standard rate for each weekend.
Room Rates for Spring Workshops (per night)*:
- Private Room: $100 USD (Paynes Harbor View), $85 USD (The Hygeia House)
- Single Suite: $120** USD (Paynes Harbor View), $100 USD (The Hygeia House)
- Double: $65/p.p. USD (Paynes Harbor View), $75/p.p. USD (The Hygeia House)
- Deluxe Suite (deck &Jacuzzi) $140** USD (Paynes Harbor View)
- Triple: $50 USD or $65 USD (The Hygeia House)
* All rooms have private baths and water views; room rates are subject to a 13% tax
** Suites at Payne's Harbor View can become doubles (by adding a cot) for an additional $30 USD per night
** Companions can travel with participants for an additional $30 USD per night. Meal costs are separate
Don't forget:
- Block Island is a real island, 12 miles off the Rhode Island coast, and is accessible only by ferry (from Point Judith, RI) or plane (from Westerly, RI).
- Workshops begin on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. and conclude Sunday at 10:30 a.m., so plan your travel accordingly.
Notes:
Spring 2007 Workshop Fees:
- Sessions 1, 2 and 6 - $235 USD
- Sessions 3, and 5 - $195 USD
- Session 4 - $285 USD
All meals includes 3 breakfasts, 3 dinners and 2 lunches $125 USD
Half meal plan includes 2 breakfasts and 3 other meals (lunch or dinner) $75 USD.
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