Open and Close with a Bang

Learn to make an unforgettable entrance (and exit). In this generative workshop taught by award-winning poet, Kelly Grace Thomas, you will learn how to open poems in a way that keeps readers reading, and close in a way that makes them want to read again. Using a number of simple and replicable strategies, you will learn how to use conflict, conceits and characterization to craft poems that leave lasting impressions.

In this workshop participants will:

• Learn how to create and sustain tension for the first line to the end 

• Apply editing techniques to get to the heat faster 

• Craft through lines to play up and play down

• Evaluate multiple beginnings and endings to measure impact