Presenter(s): Dakota Kelsey
Faculty Mentor(s): Jonathan Hill
Oral Session 4 DL
Since joining the Walter and Nancy Kidd Creative Writing Workshops in the Fall of 2018, my creative writing work has dramatically improved. My exposure to a curriculum of focused workshopping and powerful craft essays has refined my execution and understating of both poetic forms and structure. I have developed a stronger personal taste for and perception of the craft of poetry and wish to share it with the creative community. One effect of the workshop was the change of my poetry towards self-expression in a way I aspired to but couldn’t reach. Before the Kidd, I was overly reliant on form to produce meaning in poetics. I repressed my personal skill for narrative. Now, however, I have accepted form as a tool, not the soul of poetry. My presentation will showcase a selection of free verse poems to illustrate how poetry can be effective with less traditional form. I am grateful for my time in the program and how it has shaped my understanding of writing. I hope to use my newly refined skills to show both appreciation for the program and how important it is to constantly strive for improvement of an artistic craft.