Several Rock Canyon Poets road tripped to Fruita, Colorado last weekend for poetry writing workshops and a special reading at Lithic Bookstore & Gallery.
While the poets trickled into town on Friday and Saturday, the festivities began with a workshop from Kyle Harvey of Lithic about the poetic line. With the help of some well-known poems, attendees got a different look at how some poets chose to break lines and received some advice for their own work.
Trish Hopkinson also taught a workshop on response poetry. She led people through some of the different types and styles of response poetry. At the end, the attendees had a chance to try their hand at it, and some responded to poets like Maggie Smith, W.B. Yeats, Chen Chen, Paisley Rekdal, and Sandra Beasley.
The event culminated in a reading at Lithic, which was well-attended. Aaron Gates, Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Dennis Clark were the featured poets. Colin Douglas, Jack Garcia, Lisa Connors, Shelby Slade and Trish Hopkinson also shared some of their poems. The reading was followed by an open mic and several audience members read.
The Rock Canyon Poets would like to thank Danny and Kyle from Lithic for hosting the event, which provided a wonderful opportunity to learn new things, interact with other poets and share our work. Danny also offered many of the visiting poets a place to stay and graciously opened his home for them.
–by Shelby Slade, photo credits: Leigha
Aaron Gates
Aaron Gates
Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen
Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen
Dennis Clark
Dennis Clark
Colin Douglas
Colin Douglas
Jack Garcia
Jack Garcia
Lisa Connors
Lisa Connors
Shelby Slade
Shelby Slade
Trish Hopkinson
Trish Hopkinson
Danny Rosen
Big thanks to Utah Humanities and the City Art reading series for featuring members of the Rock Canyon Poets during Book Festival! And thanks to all who came out to support us. Featured poets included Dennis Marden Clark, Lisa Connors, Jack Garcia, and Michaelle Martial.
Rock Canyon Poets 