"To Get the News From Poems": Poetry in Response to Current Events (Margaret Mackinnon)

This seminar will meet in person at WriterHouse for one session on Saturday, May 9 from 1:00 to 5:00 PM.

Description:

In “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower,” William Carlos Williams wrote, “It is difficult/ to get the news from poems/ yet men die miserably every/ day/ for lack/ of what is found there.”  Though poetry might not be where one looks for the news, many contemporary poets use what is happening around us as inspiration and impetus for their writing. In this one-day seminar, we will look at how poems can address the issues and events of our time. Though the focus of the class will be on work shared by seminar members, we will also discuss poems by other writers. We’ll use the term “current events” rather broadly, including poems that address national and international events from recent decades.

About the Instructor:

Margaret Mackinnon is the author of two collections of poetry, The Invented Child (Silverfish Review Press 2013), winner of the 2014 Literary Award in Poetry from the Library of Virginia, and Afternoon in Cartago (Ashland Poetry Press 2022), winner of the Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize. Her work has appeared in The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Image, Poetry, Blackbird, and other journals. She attended Vassar College and the University of North Carolina, and she received her MFA in poetry from the University of Florida. She lives with her family in Richmond.