In this workshop, we'll explore several creative tools and techniques to ignite your poetic imagination. Rather than staring at a blank page, we’ll jump-start our writing with exercises that are fun, unexpected, and full of possibility.

We’ll cover foundational tips for writing more dynamic poems, such as discovering unusual connections between words, tuning into the musicality of language (not just meaning), and favoring vivid, concrete nouns and verbs over abstract concepts. Through playful word lists, wild writing prompts, and inspiration drawn from other poems, music, and art, you’ll find fresh ways to kick off your writing.

Participants will also have the opportunity to receive a page from Brenda's coloring book and engage with it creatively. While listening to poetry and music, you’ll be encouraged to draw or create in response, blending the visual with the written word to discover new depths of expression.

Materials provided include music, drawing paper, pens, colored markers or paint markers. We will also have poems to share, including a couple of handouts, as well as pages from Brenda's coloring book to inspire our exercises.

Let's write, draw, and explore together!

About the Poet: Brenda Wildrick, poet and visual artist, active member of Columbine Poets of Colorado and the Arizona State Poetry Society, has won contests sponsored by each of these societies. Her work has appeared in two Columbine Poets anthologies. She has a winning poem published in the Arizona Poetry Society’s 2022 Sandcutters anthology and four winning poems included in the 2023 Sandcutters anthology.

Wildrick has shared over 100 poems, stories, and drawings on Scribd.com and has been leading the Tumbleweeds poetry group in her hometown since 2011. Wildrick frequently reads her work at open mic events.

Her first book of poems, On the Train for Somewhere Else, was published in November 2023. She has also published a coloring book. The coloring book is called The Color of Hope and includes a haiku poem for each image. Both were published by Wild Rising Press and are available on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers.