The Words You Choose: Demystifying Poetry

Sign up for this workshop here. 

The Driftless Writing Center is delighted to host a workshop by Pushcart-nominated, Milwaukee-area poet and essayist Richard Hedderman this month. Hedderman’s workshop—titled “The Words You Choose: Poetry Demystified”—will not only demystify poetry for writers but also open their creative imaginations and help bring the essential tools of intuition, language, and poetic structure into practice.  

In his workshop, Hedderman aims to help writers troll for vocabulary as they vanquish their fears of the blank page. Above all, participants will absorb Hedderman’s chief lesson: they do not need to be poets to write poetry. This interactive workshop will begin with an informal discussion on one’s connection to poetry, followed by structured writing exercises and the option to share one’s new, demystified poems.  

Richard Hedderman is a multi Pushcart Prize nominee and author of two collections of poetry including, most recently, Choosing a Stone, from Finishing Line Press, which was shortlisted for the Ashland Poetry Press Richard Snyder Award and the Codhill Press Poetry Award. His writing has appeared in dozens of publications both in the U.S. and abroad, as well as in several anthologies including In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (University of Iowa Press). More of his work can be found at richardheddermanpoetry.com.