Camille Martin's Workshop: The Poetry of Borrowed Words

Every day, you're surrounded (bombarded, really) by words, from advertising to reality shows; from neon signs to instruction manuals. Why not use these words in your poetry? Borrowing from other texts to create poetry that is uniquely yours is a fun way to jump-start your imagination. And it has a venerable tradition - medieval poets cribbed from Homer to write their Life of Christ!

In this workshop, we'll examine ways in which poets have incorporated found words into their poems. You'll get lots of opportunity to try out some of these processes. We'll pillage many different kinds of texts -cookbooks, advertisements, pulp fiction, dictionaries of cliches, tv guides, travel magazines, weather reports, and poems by other poets - even very famous poets. This is your chance to have your way with Shakespeare!

You'll leave the workshop with new poems and fresh inspiration.

Beginning and experienced poets are welcome!

Enrollment is limited to 12 participants. Call (416) 929-9912 (This Ain't the Rosedale Library) to sign up.

$60 includes materials and light refreshments.

For more information, email Camille: c8martin [at] ryerson [dot] ca

Camille Martin's Workshop: The Poetry of Borrowed Words is on Sunday, April 6, from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. (with breaks) at This Ain't the Rosedale Library, 483 Church Street near Maitland (enter the door to the right of the bookstore and go upstairs).

Camille Martin is a poet and collage artist whose collection Codes of Public Sleep was recently published by BookThug. She has also published several chapbooks. Her work has been widely published in journals in Canada and the United States. She earned an MFA in Poetry at the University of New Orleans and a Ph.D. in English at Louisiana State University. Currently she teaches writing and literature at Ryerson University.