Poetry Jam 2004 – Workshops

April 1 & 2 – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Thursday, April 1

Session I, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

Shakespeare -vs- Rap
Presented by: Gary Mex Glazner

Who is “The be-all and the end all?” Who said, “The bass, the treble don’t make you a rebel.” Both Shakespeare and modern rappers cover their people, place and time, both write in rhythm and rhyme. Who first said, “Knock, knock who’s there?” Who said, “Hi, my name is...(What?) My name is...(Who?) My name is....(     ) you fill in the blank! If “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Who is the biggest player of all? The Bard takes on the Disposable Heros of Hiphoprosisy, Eminem, Easy E, all B-boys and riot grrls,“trippingly on the tongue.” Where is the place where Hip-hop and Shakespeare meet? In your classroom, in your mind,for “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” are you down?

From the page to the stage: How to perform your poems effectively
Presented by: Danny Solís and the Albuquerque Slam Team

Poetry & Sound
Presented by: Ann Hunkins & Jim Cummings

This workshop will tune your ears and give you an opportunity to work with straight, layered, and manipulated recordings of the human and natural world. We will be using CD recordings to provide audio stimulation for individual and group writing and drawing exercises. Through exercises in deep listening, drawing, and sound-making, we will explore the rhythms, textures, and interplay of sound around us, as a source for new writing.

Portraits & Self-Portraits
Presented by: Carol Moldaw

Writing a poem is a way of understanding and presenting our thoughts and feelings about the world, and about language. In this workshop, we will read poems that are portraits and self-portraits, and think about ways of describing and revealing others and ourself in words.

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Session II, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Poetry and Drawing
Presented by: Rose Bean Simpson

Slam Poetry for Teachers
Presented by: Kenn Rodríguez

Slam Poetry
Presented by: Carlos Contreras and Danny Solís

Writing the Rhythm of the Landscape
Presented by: Erin Bad Hand

In this workshop, we’ll be working with breathing and imagination. We’ll use a lot of repetition and imagery, and I’ll have everyone visualize the most beautiful place they’ve ever been, then we’ll write about that place and try to put the people in the workshop in that place. The workshop will be very sensory; we will be using all of our senses to create a poem, because writing about the land in New Mexico (or anywhere really) requires a whole-body connectedness.

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Friday, April 2

Session III, 9:00 a.m. – Noon

Voices in Blood and Wind: Writing the Poetry of Memory
Presented by: Victoria Edwards Tester

In this workshop, we will we explore telling stories through the voices we have inherited through family, land, community and history.

Picturing Others: Active Listening, Photography & Poetry
Presented by: Michelle Holland & Alex Traube

In this workshop, participants will use each other’s stories as (re)sources, for writing poems. These poetic portraits will be combined with digital photos made as part of the workshop to create words-and-photo portraits of all the participants in the workshop.

Alter-Egos: The Poetry of Strange Beings and Strange Things
Presented by: Valerie Martínez

This workshop will ask you to take on the voices of various human and non-human creatures in order to explore the funky psyches of “strange beings and strange things.” You might write from the point of view of a stone or a cloud or a tattoo. You might inhabit the persona of a historical figure, like Malcolm X or Amelia Earhart or Pancho Villa. Or you might become, in the poem, someone on the fringes of society—a child who sees visions, or a Siamese twin. The workshop will include creative exercises to help you “inhabit” your creature and will result in one or two “alter-ego poems.” This workshop asks you to enter new and challenging and strange territory with your poetry.

Spoken Word for Shy People
Presented by: Albuquerque Poetry Slammers

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Session IV, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Poetry & Hip-Hop Dancing
Presented by: Danny Silver

In this workshop, students will learn some basic hip-hop dance moves; they will learn choreography set to music by current hip-hop artists; and finally they will choreograph a short piece on their own. Note: students are welcome to bring in music by their own favorite rap artists.

Teaching Poetry Successfully: A Workshop for Teachers
Presented by: Rebecca Seiferle

Wildly In-Formed
Presented by: Joan Logghe
Transform free writing into free-wheeling forms. You’ll master two powerful ways of being wildly yourself, the chant and the pantoum, and you’ll leave with a new poetic driver’s license. The chant is so basic and ancient that the power of prayer, spell, and blessing digs your writing deeper than ever. It’s the heartbeat of poetry. The pantoum, from Malaysia, originates from song and brings a hypnotic, random beauty into your work. In both forms you’ll explore the mind that flies and dives quickly, and encounter the surreal and real elements of imagery.

Multi-Voice Poetry
Presented by: Albuquerque Poetry Slammers

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Session V, 3:15 – 5:15 p.m.

Rehearsal for Evening Performace at the Lensic
Presented by: Kenn Rodríguez
All Poetry Jam participants are invited to attend and tour the Lensic.

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