Finding Subject Matter: Cartoons as Catalysts for Poems

Rockland Public Library, April 18, 2015, 1 - 3pm

Rockland, Maine - What engages us in cartoons? What engages us in poems? Both cartoons and poems throw light on our everyday life and illuminate larger issues -- often by using language in surprising ways, often by joining different frames of reference.

In this hands-on workshop on Saturday, April 18 at 1 PM at the Rockland Public Library, we will look at some of the roots of the humor in successful cartoons, what interests us, what holds us, what leads to further thinking. Then, using selected cartoons, we will engage in writing activities -- in pairs, individually and as a group -- sometimes in response to image and caption, sometimes in response to the caption. The goal of these activities is enjoyment and entry into new topics, new territory for our writing.


This workshop is free and open to all levels.  What to bring: writing materials Workshop Limit: 20 Advance registration advised; please call the Library at 594-0310 to register or stop by the reference desk. Rockland Public Library is located at 80 Union St. This workshop is part of a series of events in celebration of Poetry Month Rockland.


Ellen Goldsmith is a poet and teacher, the author of Where to Look, Such Distances and No Pine Tree in This Forest Is Perfect which won the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center 1997 chapbook contest. “The Secret of Life” from Such Distances was read by Garrison Keillor on Writer’s Almanac. She teaches poetry for the Coastal Senior College, Five Towns CSD Adult and Community Education and Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. She is a resident of Cushing and professor emeritus of The City University of New York.