METRICAL DIVERSITY, METRICAL WITCHCRAFT
IMMERSIVE RETREAT with annie finch
Brooklyn, NY, November 17 & 24,2024
“I can state, with absolutely no doubt whatsoever, that Annie Finch taught me how to discover the musc in my own body. I have never encountered again someone so unflinchingly passionate about the art of poetry and so dedicated to it potential.”
—Patricia Smith, National Poetry Award Winner
METER is core magic, reuniting word and beat, idea and intuition, body and spirit. Through a consciousness of meter— and the ability to draw at will from its wide palette— we unveil hidden poetic powers.
On this revolutionary journey with poetry witch Annie Finch, we will explore five meters along with their moods, colors, elements, and movements, riding them into the stunning frequencies of will, mind, body, heart, and spirit.
We will do it all: journaling, discussion, chanting, movement, close hearing, revision — and time to connect and process over a shared homemade lunch. Together, we will learn techniques of deep scansion and the process of en-rhythming, as well as tips for course-correcting and ensuring that the beat of your words is strong.
Day I offers a self-contained immersion to channel the beautifully diverse spectrum of meters’ energies. Day 2 deepens our creative practice through additional generative exercises and a holistic, embodied metrical workshop.
The ancient poetic skills you gain in this supportive group may feel transformative— and startlingly familiar! Suitable for poets of all levels of experience and achievement.
Two five-hour retreat sessions in person at a beautiful home in Park Slope. Exact location will be emailed to registered participants. It is recommended to register for the full immersion experience (Meters’ Magic Immersion and Embodying Meters), but if needed, you will be fine registering for either day only. Suggested text: How to Scan a Poem: A Poetry Witch Workbook by Annie Finch
Dates: 11 am – 4 pm, Sunday, November 17 & Sunday, November 24.
$165 for one day only, or $275 for both days—10 hours of meter magic. Lunches included.
Limited scholarship assistance is available; please contact Annie if needed.
ABOUT ANNIE
Annie Finch is a poet, writer, translator, speaker, teacher, performer, and witch. She is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Spells: New and Selected Poems and The Poetry Witch Little Book of Spells (both from Wesleyan University Press), as well as eleven poetry anthologies and books of poetic criticism, a book of poetry translation, prosody, verse plays, and a poetry-writing textbook. Educated at Yale and Stanford University, where she earned her Ph.D, she has lectured on poetry and poetics at universities including Berkeley, Harvard, Toronto, Delhi, and Oxford. She has published her cultural criticism about magic, feminism, and spirituality in Feminism and Religion and The Huffington Post and edited the first major anthology of abortion literature, Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. As Poetry Witch, she has created verse drama and ritual in collaboration with artists in music, theater, and dance. Annie’s work has been a finalist for the Yale Series of Younger Poets, Foreword Book of the Year Award, and National Poetry Series and honored with the Sarasvati Award and the Robert Fitzgerald Award. Based in Brooklyn, she travels widely to read, lecture, teach, and perform and believes that poems are best absorbed when read aloud thrice in a row.
The recommended book (How to Scan a Poem) offers a great start. Want to explore meter even further before our retreat? Of my dozen books on meter & form, here are my suggestions for deeper diving! (or check out all books here).
