[Catherine McDonald]

The Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm and the Hyla Brook Poets are pleased to announce that a poetry conference dedicated to writing in meter and form will take place June 12th to 14th at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, NH.

In its inaugural year, Poetry at the Frost Farm: Writing in Meter and Form, will provide two days of intense instruction by award-winning poets -- A.M. Juster, Deborah Warren, Joshua Mehigan and Alfred Nicol -- who will immerse participants in the art and craft of formal poetry writing.

To ensure an intimate experience, workshop slots are extremely limited and we encourage registering soon. To learn more or to register, please visit: www.frostfarmpoetry.org

[John Whitworth]

May I say that is wonderful. Fat chance of it happening here where the shapeless and gormless rule and I can't get a poem accepted for love or money except in the Spectator. God bless the Spectator. They printed a poem by Les Murray last week. And God bless him.

[Catherine McDonald]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

May I say that is wonderful. Fat chance of it happening here...

Then, come play with us! I am not sure how close you are to Heathrow, but Aer Lingus, Air France, KLM, Virgin, Delta, Iberia and US Airways all have flights into Logan (BOS). We would be delighted to have you! They'll be having an open mic the evening of the reading by the winner of the Frost Farm Prize. As you are probably aware, your fellow mod Rob Wright won and read last year -- I was just in awe of his reading. This year Joshua Mehigan will present the prize and read as well. We also will have other participant readings and some evening socializing at local "pubs" -- but hardly so, I'm sure, by your definition ;-)

So, pack up those poems to share and com'on over, John! Make a week of it. There's a lot to do 50 minutes North of Boston.

[John Whitworth]

I shall be theer is spirit, be assured. Another example of the splendiferousness of the United States.

Who also publish my poems in their enlightened way.

[Catherine Chandler]

John,

"Shapeless and gormless" rule in Canada, too. And yes, bless Les Murray who has published two of mine in recent years.

Catherine, were I not already attending Poetry by the Sea (and I'm in Joshua Mehigan's workshop), I'd be there for sure! Maybe next year....
Best wishes for a wonderful event.

[Susan McLean]

I too have signed up for the Poetry by the Sea conference, where I will be in Dick Davis's workshop on the sonnet. I think the proliferation of conferences on form may be very good in terms of increasing the local audiences for and participation in poetry in form, so long as it does not wind up whittling down attendance at each conference to the point that none of them is financially feasible. Many people find travel to be one of the big expenses of attending these conferences, so I suppose that having them in various locations may tempt some people in the area to try them out. The East Coast does seem to have more options than elsewhere, but I think the high population concentration in the region may warrant that. Certainly, the Midwest has population centers so spread out that getting anywhere takes a long time. Anyway, I wish this conference well and hope that it succeeds, though I will not be able to attend it this year. In addition to attending the May conference in Madison, CT, I will be attending AWP in Minneapolis in April.

Susan