Facilitated by Chris Speckman, this workshop is perfect for writers interested in learning new techniques for crafting poetry. Adult writers will create new work over the course of this two-hour guided writing workshop, a part of The Butler MFA Community Workshop series. We will look at examples from poets like Terrance Hayes and then use prompts and exercises to write our own poems. This is a supportive space for adult writers of all levels! Pens and notebooks will be provided for participants. You are also welcome to bring your own materials and/or a writing device like a laptop. Chris is a writer and educator in Indianapolis. His work has appeared in Scoundrel Time, Cimarron Review, Passages North, Harpur Palate, PANK, and the anthologies It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip-Hop and The Indianapolis Anthology.

The Butler MFA Community Workshop series is a free writing program facilitated by Butler University alumni of the MFA in Creative Writing. These one-off workshops, hosted at partner sites including bookstores, nonprofits, and public libraries in the Greater Indianapolis area, connect adults at all stages of their writing journeys with workshop experiences shaped by graduate-level study. Thanks to a generous gift from the Efroymson Family Fund, alumni from the program’s concentrations in Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Fiction will guide local writers into creative practice. Each workshop is designed to help participants generate new work, learn new ways of thinking about the craft of writing, and more confidently continue their own writing practices.