CLiF hosts online poetry workshop April 23

April 22, 2021 | By Waterbury Roundabout

It’s national poetry month and the Waterbury-based Children’s Literacy Foundation has a special event planned for Friday at 7 p.m. with Guilford poet Verandah Porche.

“Poetry Without Tears” is set to be a free interactive workshop for teens and adults of all skill levels and experience. Participants in the online session will be encouraged to collaborate on writing a poem and to create their own poems, choosing from a variety of prompts. 

Porsche, who works as a poet-in-residence, performer, and writing partner, will share and talk about her work and about finding beauty in language. Based in rural Vermont commune Total Loss Farm since 1968, she has published books and read her work on National Public Radio, in the Vermont State House, and at the John Simon Guggenheim Museum.

Porsche has worked with aspiring poets in hospitals, factories, nursing homes, senior centers and urban neighborhoods. Her current project, “Faces of Home” involves people who have experienced homelessness. 

For nearly 30 years she’s taught a poetry program at the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts and she’s been honored by the Vermont Arts Council with multiple awards. 

The nonprofit CLiF serves low-income, at-risk children up to age 12 in rural Vermont and New Hampshire with literacy programs and book giveaways. For more information about CLiF, Porsche, and to register for this event, visit its website, clifonline.org.