Press
Articles about the workshop and book release party: http://www.frontierspublishing.com/2704/nakedcity/nakedcity_rev.html http://watermarkonline.com/content.php?cid=4261
Due to the inequities of our history, GLBT narratives of life before the millennium are under represented or unrepresented. My Life is Poetry will connect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender seniors with autobiographical poetry writing as outlet, expression, and will provide a document of a specific community living through an interesting and challenging time emotionally, culturally, and politically. GLBT elders of today have experienced life before the liberating Stonewall riots in 1969, seen the devastation of HIV in the early 80s, witnessed the emergence of queer representation in the media, and the shifting political landscape.The workshop will end with a book release party of My Life is Poetry, a collection of the writings from the workshop. This written document of elder GLBT living history will help normalize the GLBT aging process, create a bridge to other communities, and connect GLBT elders with the pleasure of writing poetry. Autobiographical poetry is a great tool to examine the themes, emotions, and moments in one's complex life. By exploring the depth of one's life experience, universals are revealed, giving a writer (and reader) the sense of interconnection and not being alone. The enduring nature of print also gives the writer a sense of creating something eternal, that the wisdom and depth of their life will be left behind. We are a society built on story telling and using the poetic form to compress these stories into line breaks and stanzas is a rewarding challenge. For an inexperienced writer, tackling an autobiographical poem seems more manageable than trying to write ones entire life story in a memoir. Contemporary poetry does not always demand hours of work. A worthy poem can be created in less than an hour. The limited time requirements are perfectly suited for seniors with limited time or stamina.
The disenfranchised GLBT senior community will benefit from the process of creating poetry that addresses their life experience and working with a published poet and versed workshop leader. The writing workshops will help introduce GLBT seniors to relevant contemporary poetry. Through a series of timed writing exercises, homework, and class critiques, seniors will become familiar and comfortable with writing.
Sponsored by a grant from The Department of Cultural Affairs: City of Los Angeles
For more information visit www.stevenreigns.com/about.
