April 24 was the WyoPoets annual spring workshop, a statewide organization for people who enjoy writing and studying poetry. Participants came from Casper, Sheridan, Buffalo, Glendo, Sundance, Green River, Worland, Douglas, Cheyenne, Colorado and Montana.Presenter Sophia Puccini from Saratoga led attendees in a game of musical chairs, chair exercises, harmonic chanting, and meditation to "get at a poem." A word gathering exercise in the morning led to a poem being riffed by the class to get another poem, either written with those words and ideas, or a completely different poem. Poets read other poets work, then their own.
Lee Ann Siebken received a special recognition award for her many service years in getting WyoPoets started and working hard for the organization during those years.
Wyoming writer Gene Gagliano (also a WAC roster artist) dontated one his publications, "My Teacher Dances On His Desk" and a drawing was held. Nancy Curtis won the drawing.
The workshop was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Casper, a nice facility with spacious conference rooms and on-the-spot food service.
The weather was a little dicey all that weekend, but the fireplace in the lobby and poet friends I hadn't seen in awhile helped to chase the chill away.
Visit WyoPoets on the web at http://wyopoets.org/
Membership is $20 a year and the organization hosts an annual poetry contest and publishes the chap book, as well as puts out a newsletter.
