This semester, I signed up for the unthinkable: a poetry workshop.  I’ve never really written any poetry, other than prose poems (but as one of my poet friends said to me, “that’s not stretching yourself enough.”) She’s right: as writers, we need to constantly challenge ourselves, constantly take ourselves out of our comfort zones so our words do not become stagnant. 

So I took the plunge.  I signed up, and it’s passed the add/drop period at my school, so it looks like I’m in this for the long-haul.  The class is on 20th Century poetry, and many of the writers we’re looking at (besides Pound, Williams, and Ginsberg) I’ve never read: Lorine Niedecker, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Jean Toomer, to name three.  And today, I sent off my first poem to workshop (we had to write following a strict form, so I chose a sonnet to ease myself in).

Every writer should try the unexpected.  If you mainly write prose, try a poetry workshop.  If you’re a screenwriter, go for memoir.  There’s a world of value in looking at writing from a different perspective, and you may be amazed at where you end up.