Wendy Lu
Marit Nelson, 21, writes a poem about what being alive means to her at the "Living Libraries" poetry workshop Saturday.
Writers broke out their pens Saturday afternoon at a poetry workshop hosted by Sacrificial Poets, a spoken word poetry organization based in the Triangle.
The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library sponsored the workshop, which consisted of a guest performance and activities that examined various writing techniques and prompts.
Nationally-recognized poet Tatyana Brown, who placed fourth in the 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam, opened the workshop with her poem, “The Breakup, or How to Move into a House that is on Fire.”
"What I love about poetry is challenging myself to express my internal world in a way that sparks recognition for other people,” Brown said. "Through that kind of recognition, people come to understand one another differently – better, even."
During part one of the workshop, participants used abstract nouns, locations and adjectives to create poems based on metaphors. The goal was to write “powerful descriptions that show rather than tell,” said executive director Will McInerney.
“We all hold a collection of stories that are important and worth telling,” McInerney said. “What we're trying to do is encourage folks in the community to share their own stories.”
For part two, participants were asked to write poems based on the question: “What does it mean to live?” After several moments of silent writing, individuals volunteered to share their poems with the entire group.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” said Chapel Hillian Marit Nelson. “I went to the open mic night that [Sacrificial Poets] held in early January. I thought maybe something like this would get my juices flowing.”
Sacrificial Poets will be hosting the next workshop as part of the “Living Libraries” poetry series on Feb. 16. All workshops are free and open to the public. TW
