There is a mystical moment of inspiration and recognition that bridges the gulf between poetry and prose. Could the muse be tamed to inspire poetry during a 90 minute workshop? It may happen during the process of writing, reading, rewriting, and rereading. My approach to the poetry workshop was to present models, explore structures, and play with spontaneous verbal and visual statements.
Waterways eschewed the neatly polished matte or glossy look of journals that took themselves much more seriously. We relied on the technology we had at home in our loft. Barbara did the editing and proofreading. We turned our teachers salaries into the project to keep our printer going. We published only poetry, and no advertisements. We trusted our reactions to the work. Barbara did most of the reading and set standards for Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream. No haiku. Seldom publish rhyme. No gratuitous sex or violence, since Waterways was aimed at a mixed audience of children and adults.
The workshop in the library grew. There is a videotape of a workshop where we discussed a Wordsworth sonnet that concluded with the sestet:
Wisdom doth live with children round her knees:
Books, leisure, perfect freedom, and the talk
Man holds with week-day man in the hourly walk
Of the mind's business: these are the degrees
By which true Sway doth mount; this is the stalk
True Power doth grow on; and her rights are these.
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